Women Swimmers Finish Fifth, Men Sixth at Zippy Invite

Sonya Tarasenkov

The College of Wooster women's swimming team moved past host University of Akron on the final day of the Zippy Invitational to finish fifth in a field of 15 in the second-largest collegiate swimming invitational of its kind in the United States, while the Wooster men ended up sixth of 10 squads.

In a competition that included nine NCAA Division I programs and several Division II and III powers, the Scot women compiled 931 points, while the University at Buffalo won the competition (1361.5).

In a reversal of last year's invite, when Akron surpassed Wooster in the final event, the Scots leapfrogged the Zips by winning the 400 freestyle relay with a school-record time of 3:32.98. The team, which also recorded an automatic qualifying-time for the NCAA Championships, consisted of freshman Sophie Brym, sophomore Sonya Tarasenkov, freshman Liz Whittam, and sophomore Kayla Heising.

"The victory in the 400 free relay was the perfect way for the women's team to end their challenging weekend of competition," said Scot head coach Keith Beckett following the three-day event. "They saw strong swims from all team members."

Also in that event, Wooster's "B" team of freshman Kate Henley, sophomore Tanya Tarasenkov, senior Lori Mitskavich, and freshman Nicole Greene scored points (3:40.N/A) to clinch the team's overall fifth-place showing.

Individually on Sunday, the Scot women produced another handful of national cut times led by Whittam's automatic-qualifying mark in the 200 breaststroke (2:23.38). Not to be outdone, senior tri-captain Beth Starling and junior Jenny Bayuk also recorded NCAA cut times in that event, hitting the wall in 2:24.14 and 2:24.44, respectively.

Wooster's other national mark was turned in by Heising, who finished second in the 100 freestyle but recorded an even better time in that event in her leg of the 400 freestyle relay (52.96). The Scots had three other point scorers in the 100 freestyle as well - Brym and the Tarasenkov twins, while their final double event scorer on Sunday was junior Jody Bray in the 200 butterfly (2:15.60) and 1650 freestyle (18:11.49).

Beckett modestly summarized Wooster's women's weekend by saying, "Going into this meet, we hoped to be competitive against some challenging competition and achieve some national cuts. It is without question that we achieved both goals."

In men's action on Sunday, the Scot men sustained their sixth-place position that they had held the previous two days. Wooster finished with 597 points, while first-place went to Division II powerhouse Clarion (Pa.) University with 1,736.5 points.

The Scots had five scorers in the 200 backstroke led by freshman Kevin Wolfe (1:59.40) and sophomore Jim Gilchrist (1:59.60), who came in 12th- and 13th-place, respectively. Four made point contributions in the 1650 freestyle, highlighted by sophomore Michael Durik who had a sub-18 minute mile and came in 13th (17:54.76) and senior Jason Maines who hit the wall 14th (18:00.12).

In the 100 freestyle, Wooster had three scorers - sophomore Giles Mitchell (50.00), sophomore Curtis Wolfe (50.17), and senior Eric Knauss (50.71).

Additionally, Kevin Wolfe and sophomore Adam Yack produced strong swims in the 200 butterfly with marks of 2:04.79 and 2:08.70, respectively.

According to Beckett, "The coaches were elated with the men's performance. There were many positives throughout the weekend and we are exceptionally happy with the ability of the men's team to dominate the other D-III teams as well as remain competitive with the Division I schools."

The Scot swim teams don't compete again until a Jan. 12 tri-meet at Case Western Reserve University.