Swim Teams Open Season At NCAC Relays

Sara Connolly

Wooster's women's team, which finished 13th at last season's NCAA Championships, was third of seven with 130 points, while the men's squad, which placed 11th at last spring's national meet, totaled 58 points to finish sixth in the eight-team field.

The top performance from the Scots came via women's divers Sara Connolly, Jess Johnson, and Caitlin Tobey, who were the champions of both the one-meter and three-meter diving relays, which was held at Denison.

Over at Kenyon where the swimming portion of the competition took place, Wooster turned in a pair of second-place performances, while nearly every other women's relay was third at the event. Sophomore Jenny Bayuk, junior Beth Starling, sophomore Erin Popelka, and classmate Christie Egnatuk were the runner-ups in the 200 breaststroke relay (2:07.86). Also placing second was the 200 butterfly relay comprised of freshman Kayla Heising, Popelka, junior Jessica Ritchie, and Starling (1:50.57).

On the men's side, 10-time All-American and U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier Wes Bennett, now a senior at Wooster, combined with freshman Mike Moore, junior Eric Knauss, as well as senior Dale Edwards in a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:29.10). Another notable showing for the Scots came in the form of sophomore Alex Hastie and freshmen Jim Gilchrist and Mike Durik, who were fourth in the 1500 freestyle relay (15:53.60).

The Scots' long-time head coach Keith Beckett was pleased with his team's 2000-01 debut.

"Both teams competed to their capabilities at this time," explained the 17th-year head coach. "I am satisfied with the results. We were faster in the majority of our relays, and so was the rest of the conference."