Thomas Pitney
Sports Editor
On Saturday, Nov. 13, both the women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams were determined to keep their undefeated 2-0 records as they took on the Titans of Westminster College at Timken Natatorium. The women asserted their dominance early and often to defeat the Titans 199-85. Meanwhile, the men won in a nail-biter by a score of 153-145.
The women’s team set the tone immediately in the first event — the 400-yard medley relay — as the team of Hallie Findlan ’25, Ollie Bream ’25, Molly Likins ’22 and Emma Connors ’24 finished in first place and the team of Mia Chen ’22, Kay Wetmore ’23, Maddie Becker ’24 and Mariam Zayour ’24 finished in second place. From there, Wooster did not let its foot off the gas, winning every individual swimming event. Wetmore’s mentality in her victory in the 100-yard butterfly demonstrated the Scots’ relentless effort. “I tried to approach the event with the mindset of giving the event everything I had left, since it was my last individual event of the meet, which I felt really helped me to win the event.”
This mentality allowed a slew of Scots to win individual events: Madison Whitman ’22 won the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:35.72; Connors reigned supreme in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.78; Becker finished the 100-yard backstroke in 1:03.60 and the 100-yard individual medley (IM) in 1:03.80 to capture victory in both events; Likins defeated the field in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events with respective times of 1:08.59 and 2:32.02; Bream triumphed in the 200-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle with times of 2:13.90 and 5:30.69; Findlan conquered the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races in 24.53 and 54.09 respectively; and in the last individual event, the 200-yard backstroke, Zayour’s time of 2:20.03 allowed her to capture first prize.
Wooster carried its momentum to cap off a stellar team performance with the 200-yard freestyle relay, in which Findlan, Wetmore, Connors and Bream teamed up to take first prize while Chen Min Kim ’23, Emma Bossaert ’22 and Carol Maag ’23 finished in third place. Wetmore credited the whole swimming team for their success in the relay, saying that “everyone was cheering us on for this last event and I believe that really helped us to finish the meet strong and ultimately win the relay!”
While the women ran away with a victory, the men’s team was engaged in a heated battle with the Titans, as both teams matched each other blow-for-blow. However, the Scots embraced the pressure. Josh Pearson ’24 said that “we really wanted to stay undefeated, so there was added pressure, but everyone was able to use it to their advantage and swim fast races.” For Tucker Andrewjeski ’25, “the feeling of racing in a close meet is extremely fun. The pressure is high, the swim team is loud and it creates better swims for each of us.”
Though Westminster emerged victorious in both the 400-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Scots bounced back in the individual events to secure a tight victory. In particular, Andrewjeski, Pearson and Isaac Shaker ’25 shined for Wooster. Andrewjeski dominated the 1000-yard freestyle, finishing the race in 10:16.90, and narrowly won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:22.35. Pearson stepped up to win the 200-yard freestyle in 1:49.78 and the 100 IM in 55.46. Shaker attained solid victories in both the 200-yard butterfly and the 500 freestyle with his respective times of 2:01.88 and 5:00.15.
Up by a score of 147-134 going into the final 200-yard freestyle relay event, the Scots needed a third place finish to tie and a second place finish to win the meet. The team of Shaker, Ryan Gross ’25, Graham Letkeman ’23 and Zach Fickes ’25 removed any doubt of a Wooster victory, finishing in second place with a time of 1:31.43.
The performances by both teams reinforced the Scots’ confidence and optimism for the rest of the season. Wetmore believes that “we will definitely continue to be very competitive throughout the rest of the season. We have great depth on the women’s team, which ultimately helps us score points and win events, and I believe we will continue to get faster as the season continues!” Pearson pointed out that “lots of people have put up solid times already and everyone is showing improvement as we move into the season. Especially with our mid-season invite coming up, which we will be resting up for, I think there are definitely big things on the horizon for this team.”
The Scots look to continue their undefeated seasons on Friday, Nov. 19 at 6:30 p.m. when they travel to Alliance, OH to take on the University of Mount Union Purple Raiders.