by Henry Schneiderman
On Saturday, Feb. 3, the Fighting Scots swim and dive teams dove into the familiar confines of Wooster’s Timken Natatorium to compete against the Hiram Terriers and the Oberlin Yeomen in their final dual meet of the season. The event served as the team’s final regular season competition before the NCAC Championships, marking it an extremely memorable victory for the Scots.
“This meet served as a final test before [the] conference [meet],” said Noah McDonald ’26. “The team has been working really hard, and we were excited to see how our training would pay off ahead of the NCAC championships.”
The women’s team checked off a monumental accomplishment as they amassed their 33rd consecutive dual-meet victory as they found success over both Oberlin and Hiram with landslide results, beating the Yeomen 176.5-78.5 and the Terriers 211-35. This result marks the ninth time the Wooster women have gone undefeated against NCAC competitors in the past 10 years — further solidifying themselves as a dominant force in the conference. With this result, Maddie Becker ’24 and Emma Connors ’24 will end their collegiate careers without ever seeing defeat in a dual meet.
Becker also concluded her regular season career with a bang as she claimed the Timken Natatorium record for the 100-meter individual medley, beating out the competition with an impressive time of 1:01.32 and topping her previous record by 0.31 seconds. Throughout the meet, Becker won two more individual events, leading the charts in the 50 breaststroke with a time of 28.14 and in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:08.98. She claimed the 200 medley relay (1:55.15) with the assistance of Izzy Bellefleur ’25, Ollie Bream ’25 and Patricia Chen ’26, who dominated the cooperative competition.
Hallie Findlan ’25 put forth a star-studded performance with victories in the 50 backstroke (28.14), the 50 freestyle (24.56) and in the 100 freestyle (54.13). Furthermore, Bream delivered a commanding performance by sweeping the butterfly events with times of 27.01 in the 50 and 1:00.71 in the 100. To round out this historic victory, Kate Peck ’27 found the top position in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:01.42, Emma Humbert ’26 swept the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:05.87 and Cady Eakins ’25 amassed 154.25 points to win the three meter diving event. The women won all but two events.
On the men’s side, Wooster found dominance over Hiram (197-45) and was narrowly defeated by Oberlin (141-115). Despite this finish, three Scots recorded multiple wins, with Josh Pearson ’24 claiming victory in the 100 butterfly (52.96) and in the 100 individual medley (54.58). He also presented a second-place finish in the 50 butterfly with a time of 23.99.
Callum Glover ’26 controlled the freestyle sprints with victories in the 50 free (21.46) and the 100 free (47.27). Next up, McDonald ruled the diving events as he amassed 223.15 points on the one-meter board and 207.50 for the three meter event. Both relay teams found runner-up finishes with the 200 medley relay team consisting of Will Laymon ’26, Boston Sullivan ’26, Pearson and Glover completing the event in an astounding 1:38.19. Next up, Will Laubacher ’26, Ethan Neuner ’27, Ryan Gross ’25 and Glover netted a time of 1:28.76 in the 200 freestyle relay that left them with a narrow second place finish.
In addition to his relay efforts, Gross found success in the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle with times of 1:49.32 and 49.99 respectively. Sullivan also grabbed points for the Scots with second place finishes in the 50 breaststroke (28.06) and the 100 breaststroke (1:00.77) before netting third in the 100 individual (56.02). Lastly, Max Likins ’25 assisted the Scot’s’ efforts with a time of 54.97 in the 100 butterfly that netted him a third place finish, and Laymon placed third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.31.
Wooster’s combined efforts presented a monumental performance for the team, keeping spirits high and confidently sending the Scots into the upcoming Conference meet.
“The meet went pretty well; a lot of our teammates, including myself, got personal bests,” McDonald said. “Swimmers are going to start tapering in preparation for the NCAC championships, it’s an exciting time and I can’t wait for conference!”
The Fighting Scots Swim and Dive teams will travel to Granville, Ohio next week, Feb.14-17 to participate in the NCAC Championships at Denison University’s Trumbull Aquatics Center. Congratulations on a successful season and good luck at conference!
