Scot Women Swimmers First, Men Third at Wooster Invitational

Wes Bennett qualified for the NCAA Championships and posted an Olympic Trials-cut time of 20.59 in the 50 freestyle.

The College of Wooster swimming and diving teams turned in some great results at their own Wooster Invitational this past weekend with the women finishing first in a competitive nine-team field and the men placing third of seven schools. Individually, the Scots recorded a handful of national-qualifying cut times.

"It was one of the very best performances we've ever had at this point in the season," said elated Wooster head coach Keith Beckett following the meet. "From the women's perspective, it was an outstanding meet as they were able to finish ahead of Division-I Akron, as well as a couple of outstanding Division-II teams."

The Scot women totaled 853 points to outdistance runner-up Ashland (783). Shippensburg (532), Hillsdale (453), Akron (385), Wittenberg (304), John Carroll (302), Baldwin-Wallace (124), and Mount Union (106) rounded out the women's meet.

In the men's competition, Wooster tallied 588 points, finishing behind meet-champion Shippensburg (1,145) and Ashland (804.5). Rounding out the men's field was Wittenberg (351.5), John Carroll (286), Baldwin-Wallace (259), and Mount Union (231).

"I'm just as happy with the men's effort as they were able to come out on top of Wittenberg and John Carroll whom we had lost dual meets to earlier in the season," commented Beckett.

For the Wooster women, four relay teams and five individuals qualified for the NCAA Championships at the meet. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of junior Michelle Cady, senior Laura Dunn, senior Leah Becki, and sophomore Jessica Ritichie placed second and qualified for the national meet with a time of 1:39.84 on Friday night. The 200-yard medley relay team, consisting of Ritchie and Dunn along with sophomore Beth Starling and freshman Erin Popelka, won that event and recorded a national-cut in a time of 1:50.99. In the 400-yard medley relay, Ritchie, Starling, Popelka, and Cady combined to qualify for the NCAA Championships with a time of 4:01.28. And, senior Leah Becki, sophomore Lori Mitskavich, Dunn, and Ritchie qualified for the national meet in the 800-yard freestyle relay in a time of 7:57.63.

Individually, Becki led the way for the Scot women, setting meet records in three different events and qualifying for the NCAA Championships in four races. She won the 200-yard individual medley on Friday (2:10.29), 400-yard individual medley on Saturday (4:38.09), and the 200-yard butterfly on Sunday (2:09.43). Becki also had a national cut time in the 200-yard freestyle (1:58.93).

Popelka had an outstanding meet as well, qualifying for the national meet in three events. She placed second behind Becki in both the 200-yard individual medley (2:12.15) and 400-yard individual medley (4:43.00), and qualified in the 200-yard breaststroke with a national-cut time (2:27.89).

Ritchie also qualified for the NCAA Championships in three events. She won the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 54.16, but had an even better national-qualifying time in the preliminaries (53.85). In the 50-yard freestyle, she qualified in the preliminaries (24.63) and finished fourth in the finals (25.26). In the 100-yard backstroke, Ritchie qualified in the preliminaries (1:00.35) and placed second overall in the finals (1:00.94).

Starling and freshman Jenny Bayuk also had strong individual performances for Wooster in the women's meet. They each qualified for the national meet in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke competitions. Starling won both the 100 (1:06.47) and 200 (2:24.49), while Bayuk was third in the 100 (1:08.42) and second in the 200 (2:29.95).

On the men's side, two relays and two individuals qualified for the NCAA Championships at the Wooster Invitational. Highlighting that group was the 200-yard freestyle relay of senior Steve Bayuk, junior Dale Edwards, sophomore Eric Knauss, and junior Wes Bennett, which automatically-qualified for the national meet and won their respective race with a time of 1:22.98. Bayuk, Edwards, and Bennett combined with senior Kagan McKittrick to win the 400-yard freestyle and qualify for nationals in a time of 3:08.48.

Individually, Bennett not only qualified for the NCAA Championships in winning the 50-yard freestyle on Friday, but he had an Olympic Trials-cut time of 20.59. Also, Bayuk placed second behind Bennett in that event and had a national-qualifying time of 21.00.