Scot Women Edged By Host Akron At 10-Team Invite

Jessica Ritchie

Entering the 39th and final event of the Akron Invitational, which was held at Ocasek Natatorium on the campus of the University of Akron from Dec. 1-3, The College of Wooster's women's swimming team had a 12-point lead over the host Zips.

However, that would not be enough to win the 10-team field, as Wooster's NCAA Division I counterparts finished 1-2 in the 400 freestyle relay to overcome the Scots and win the three-day meet.

Akron ended up with 796 points and Wooster registered 784 points, while the rest of the field was left behind, as the next best-finisher was Westminster College (Pa.) with 522 points.

Rounding out the team scoring were Ashland University (471), Duquesne University (431), Wittenberg University (314), Hillsdale College (238), Baldwin-Wallace College (128), John Carroll University (117), and Mt. Union College (37).

Overall, 17 national qualifying times were recorded by Wooster swimmers and several school records were broken.

Highlighting the individual performances was junior Jessica Ritchie, who earned national cut times in three individual events and was part of five relay teams that may be headed to the NCAA Championships come March. In addition to her national times, she won both the 50 freestyle (24.20) and 100 freestyle (52.75) events and set school records in the 100 backstroke (58.81) and 200 freestyle (1:55.51).

In relay action, Ritchie teamed up with freshman Tanya Tarasenkov, junior Lori Mitskavich, and freshman Kayla Heising for a 200 freestyle relay team, which broke a 12-year old school record en route to provisionally qualifying for the national meet (1:38.47).

Despite not setting a school record, the 200 medley relay consisting of Ritchie, sophomores Jenny Bayuk and Erin Popelka and Heising may have been even more impressive, as it won that event and swam an automatic qualifying-time for the NCAA Championships (1:48.30). Another first-place relay team for the Scots came in the 800 freestyle event, as Mitskavich, senior Jamie Pullin, freshman Erin Skinner, and Ritchie touched the wall first (7:51.09).

Other relay teams registering national cuts were the 400 medley of Ritchie, sophomore Beth Starling, Popelka, and freshman Sonya Tarasenkov (3:59.01), as well as Ritchie, Mitskavich, Sonya Trasenkov, and Heising in the 400 freestyle (3:37.02).

"Never in the history of the Wooster's women's team have all five relays qualified for nationals in one invitational," said an elated Scot head coach Keith Beckett following Sunday night's action.

Individually, Bayuk and Starling finished in the top-three in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events, while recording national cut times in both races. Bayuk won the 100 breaststroke (1:06.59), while Starling came in third (1:07.02), however, Starling won the 200 breaststroke (2:24.61), edging out runner-up Bayuk in that event (2:24. 90).

Starling also turned in a national-qualifying effort and placed sixth in the 100 butterfly (1:00.29), but Popelka outperformed her in that event by winning and establishing a new school record (58.75). Additionally, Popelka had a national cut time in the 200 individual medley (2:12.15), while Heising rounded out the NCAA Championships-qualifying efforts with a strong showing in the 50 freestyle (24.69).

"It's easy to highlight the national qualifiers and record breakers, but the entire weekend was filled with a significant number of outstanding swims from all members," Beckett summarized.