Women Swimmers Sweep Opening Dual Meets, While Men Split

Kayla Heising won both the 50 (24.15) and 100 (53.58) freestyles with NCAA Championships-qualifying times and Timken Natatorium records in each event.

The College of Wooster men's and women's swimming and diving teams launched the dual-meet portion of their season this weekend with strong showings against Mt. Union College on Friday (Nov. 1) and Wittenberg University on Saturday (Nov. 2). The Wooster women posted two victories, cruising past Mt. Union on the road 135-74 and Wittenberg at home 126-109, while the men's team was victorious over the Purple Raiders 117-85 and fell to the Tigers 118-113 in a match-up that came down to the final relay.

The Scots were led by junior co-captain Kayla Heising, who won both the 50 (24.15) and 100 (53.58) freestyles against Wittenberg with NCAA Championships-qualifying times and Timken Natatorium records in each event. Heising also joined senior co-captain Jenny Bayuk, junior Tanya Tarasenkov, and sophomore Liz Whittam for a national-qualifying mark in the 200 medley relay (1:50. 97). Other victors on Saturday were highlighted by sophomore Elizabeth Roesch in both the 500 (5:20.93) and 1000 freestyles (10:51.93), Whittam in the 100 butterfly (1:02.72) and the 200 individual medley (2:12.44), and Bayuk in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.20).

At Mt. Union, Wooster's 400 yard medley relay consisting of senior Leslie Hahn, juniors Jen Jenkins and Sonya Tarasenkov, and sophomore Sophie Brym, and the 400 freestyle relay of junior Holly Duff, sophomore Sara Steele, and freshmen Noel Wells and Kim Chambers were victorious with times of 4:20.10 and 3:59.44, respectively. Individual event winners for the women were Wells in the 500 (5:34.42) and 1000 (11:30.10) freestyles, Sonya Tarasenkov in the 100 freestyle (56.07) and 200 freestyle (2:02.84), and Brym in the 200 butterfly (2:21.53) and 200 IM (2:17.93).

On the men's side, there were several notable swims, highlighted by five individual first-place finishers in the win against Mt. Union. They were freshman Joe Silvestri in the 100 (51.10) and 200 freestyles (N/A), sophomores Clint Nicely in the 50 freestyle (23.74) and Kevin Wolfe in the 200 IM (N/A), freshman David Brumbaugh in the 200 backstroke (2:10.12), and junior Jim Gilchrist in the 200 breaststroke (2:36.17).

On Saturday for the Scots, the 200 medley relay, of juniors Mike Moore and Sam Almy, and sophomores Austin Carter and Bryant Cameron, was victorious (1:46.38). Another highlight was the team's 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 backstroke - Brumbaugh (58.78), Carter (59.27), and Kevin Wolfe (1:00.04), while other individual winners were Gilchrist in the 1000 freestyle (10:48.19), Silvestri in the 50 freestyle (23.04), and freshman diver Todd Koenig in both the one-meter (176.50) and three-meter (176.90).

Next for the Fighting Scots, they will travel to Meadville, Pa., on Nov. 9-10 for an annual invitational hosted by Allegheny College.