Scots Take Third-Place for Second Year in a Row at Own Invite

The College of Wooster repeated its performance from a year ago by picking up a third-place finish at the 11-team Wooster Invitational, held at Wooster High School’s Ellen Shapiro Natatorium on Dec. 2-4.  The Scots tallied 971.5 points during the three-day event, finishing behind Westminster (Pa.) College (1,615) and Case Western Reserve University (1,219). Ashland University came in fourth with 866.5 points, followed by Ohio Northern University (764), Lycoming College (720), Salem International University (629), Penn State Behrend (480), Oberlin College (427), John Carroll University (348), and St. Vincent College (8).

Each of the Scots’ five relay teams placed among the top-10 teams in their respective heats, with the 200 medley relay of senior Austin Carter, sophomores Dan Noble and Brandon DuGar, and freshman Kyle Oaks earning third-place with a time of 1:39.59, less than a second off the pace set by the winning squad from Case (1:38.81). The 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams each came in fifth-place in the finals with times of 1:28.87 and 3:17.53, respectively, while the 400 medley and 800 freestyle relay teams each touched the wall in seventh-place in their respective heats.

The Scots’ top individual finisher on the day was DuGar, who came in third in the 100 butterfly behind Ashland’s Omar Fathallah (50.98) with a time of 53.26. DuGar, who also started off the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, managed a ninth-place finish (22.37) in the 50 freestyle race as Fathallah once again led the pack with a 21.08 mark.

Carter highlighted his busy meet by touching the wall in fourth-place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.94. Carter also came in 12th in the 200 backstroke (2:07.89), in addition to competing on both medley relays and the 200 freestyle relay.

Freshman Matt Dominski continued his impressive debut season by reaching two championship heat finals (top-eight), placing sixth and seventh in the 100 and 200 butterfly events with times of 54.54 and 2:06.19, respectively.

Noble was the Scots’ only other top-10 finisher, coming in seventh in the 200 individual medley (2:02.43), and he added an 11th-place finish in the 100 freestyle (49.14), while sophomore Andy Nicol, freshman Ted Polley, and junior David Brumbaugh picked up points in the 400 individual medley, 1650 freestyle, and 200 backstroke events by finishing in 11th- (4:49.45), 11th- (18:35.95), and 13th-place (2:08.39), respectively.

Freshman Alex Gauvin was the Scot men’s only individual winner as he edged out teammate Todd Koenig in the one-meter (370.05) and three-meter (357.85) events.