Thomas Pitney
Sports Editor
From Wednesday, Feb. 9 to Saturday, Feb. 12, the Wooster Fighting Scots’ swimming team competed in the NCAC Championships at Denison University. At the meet, several Scots broke personal records and achieved all-conference honors. As a result, both teams were in the top half of the field, as the men’s team finished in fifth place out of ten teams, while the women’s team finished fourth out of ten.
On the opening day of the meet, the Scots got off to a strong start. The only event taking place in which the Scots competed was the 800-yard freestyle relay. The men’s team of Josh Pearson ’24, Doak Shultz ’22, Isaac Shaker ’25 and Ryan Gross ’25 finished with a time of 6:56.68, good enough for a third place finish and all-conference honor after Wabash was disqualified from the event. Gross was happy with the result, saying that “overall, I was pleased with my performances in the relays. These events are my favorite part of any meet. Even though we couldn’t have spectators this year at the conference meet, the energy that was in that building was insane.”
Likewise, the women’s team of Ollie Bream ’25, Mia Chen ’22, Madison Whitman ’22 and Emma Connors ’24 originally finished in fourth place in the event with a time of 7:51.68, but Denison’s false start allowed the Scots to jump into third place and secure all-conference in the event. Heading into the second day, the men’s team was in fourth place overall while the women’s team was in third.
The highlight of the second day, Thursday, Feb. 10, was in the women’s 400-yard medley relay, in which the team of Chen, Molly Likins ’22, Bream and Hallie Findlan ’25 secured third place with a time of 3:54.70. The women’s team continued to shine in the relays, as the team of Findlan, Maddie Becker ’24, Connors and Likins finished in fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
On the men’s side, Pearson smashed his own 200-yard individual medley school record by two seconds, finishing eighth in the final heat with a time of 1:51.77. Pearson admitted that “I was really surprised by my 200 IM. I dropped over two seconds from the Wooster Invitational, so I was very happy with that.” In the 400-yard medley relay, Damien Donado ’25, Noah Golovan ’23, Pearson and Gross finished in fourth place. These performances were good enough to allow the women to sit at fourth place overall and the men at fifth place after the second day, spots neither team would relinquish.
On Friday, Feb. 11, the women claimed yet another all-conference honor in a relay. This time, it was Chen, Likins, Bream and Findlan who secured third place in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:47.03. The next best finishes for the women’s team were in the 100-yard breaststroke, in which Likins finished fifth, Whitman set a personal record with her seventh-place time and Becker secured ninth place.
For the men, Pearson surprised in the 400-yard individual medley, becoming the first male Scot to ever finish All-NCAC in the event, finishing with a time of 4:00.30 to obtain third place. In the 200-yard medley relay, Golovan, Donado, Pearson and Schultz went back-and-forth with Wabash and finished just behind the Little Giants in fourth place.
The final day of the meet, Saturday, Feb. 12, was headlined by several records being broken. Bream was named All-NCAC in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:03.74. When asked about the performance, Bream said that “I used to be anxious before the 200 fly because it was a scary and difficult race, but I’ve done it so much that now I get to push the pre-race anxiety away and push my body to the limits of what it’s capable of, and I love seeing what I can do. My time is just as much a surprise to me as it is to anyone else.” Meanwhile, Becker set a record for the Scots in the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 59.93 in the preliminary heat while also finishing in fourth place in the final race.
Pearson again headlined the men, setting a school record in the 200-yard butterfly with his final race time of 1:50.85, good enough for fifth place in the event. Schultz finished fifth and tied the Scots’ record of 52.84 in the 100-yard individual medley to cap off a terrific meet for the Scots.
This was one of the best seasons of Wooster swimming in recent memory, as it was filled with many personal records, school records and dual meet wins amidst other achievements. With only the Kenyon Fast Chance Meet to go, the Scots are beginning to reflect on the season. Bream summed up the season by saying that, “I love this team with my whole being. The chance to train and race with such a positive, supportive and loving group of people has been the chance of a lifetime and I’m so excited to see what we can do for the next three years. Wooster was the right choice for me, and I think we just have to show the rest of the conference how absolutely powerful we can be.”
The Scots have one meet left on the schedule, the Kenyon Fast Meet, which will take place in Gambier, Ohio on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 12 p.m. Congratulations to the Scots on a great season and all the seniors on both teams for fantastic careers!