Scot Women Swimmers Post Wins at Annual Allegheny Invitational

Joe Silvestri

The College of Wooster women's swimming team had another successful weekend (Nov. 8-9), sweeping both the sprint (421) and distance (634) portions of the four-team Allegheny Invitational, while the men's squad placed fourth in the sprint meet (268) and third in the distance meet (334).

The sprint meet was highlighted with the Wooster women winning six out of seven events, including a national-qualifying relay, a meet record, and a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 freestyle.

Senior Jenny Bayuk, juniors Kayla Heising and Tanya Tarasenkov, and sophomore Liz Whittam teamed up to win the 200 medley relay (1:50.68) for the Scots, posting an NCAA Championships-qualifying mark, and establishing a new meet record. In the 100 freestyle, Heising, along with sophomore Sophie Brym and junior Sonya Tarasenkov took the top-three places, touching in 54.70, 55.89, and 56.34, respectively.

Also during Friday's sprints, the 200 freestyle relay of Heising, Tanya Tarasenkov, Kate Henley, and Sonya Tarasenkov won in 1:41.42, and individual winners were Whittam in both the 100 backstroke (1:02.48) and 200 IM (2:13.62) and Bayuk in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.34).

Saturday's distance events saw Bayuk lead the way for Wooster, winning the 200 breaststroke with a strong early-season time of 2:31.03, as well as Whittam and classmate Elizabeth Roesch, who finished first and second in the 200 backstroke with respective times of 2:16.55 and 2:18.22. Roesch also was the runner-up in the 500 freestyle (5:19.12), while other strong swims came from Brym in the 400 IM (4:57.99), junior Amy Clark in the 200 butterfly (2:20.48), and senior Jody Bray in the 1650 freestyle (18:42.22).

Junior Jim Gilchrist led the Scot men at the sprint meet, finishing third in the 200 IM (2:09.24), while his teammates also recorded several notable swims on Friday. Freshman Joe Silvestri posted solid times in the 100 freestyle (51.72) and 100 butterfly (58.48), junior Sam Almy did so in the 100 backstroke (59.12), and the 200 freestyle relay of junior Mike Moore, sophomore Clint Nicely, Silvestri, and freshman David Brumbaugh hit the wall in 1:33.12.

On Saturday, Gilchrist had another good performance, this time in the 200 backstroke (2:08.07), while additional notables were sophomore Kevin Wolfe in the 200 backstroke (2:08.07) and 200 butterfly (2:14.87), and Silvestri in the 200 butterfly (2:15.06), as well as the 800 freestyle relay of Gilchrist, Almy, Silvestri, and junior Adam Yack (N/A).

Both Fighting Scot squad return to dual-meet competition this Saturday (Nov. 16), as they will host John Carroll University at 1 p.m.