All indications point towards The College of Wooster men's swimming & diving team having reestablished its identity, and with two large recruiting classes complementing two strong upperclass groups, the Fighting Scots are poised to be a bigger factor at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships.
"I would say that is very true," shared Rob Harrington, Wooster's winningest dual meet coach, on the team finding its core identity again. "We have had two very fortunate years of recruitment with both numbers and talent. We have more than replaced what we graduated last year and feel like we are in a good position to reach our goals this season. Last year's incoming class really turned the tide with our program, and that group gave us the added boost we needed to be successful, especially at the NCAC Championships."
Specialty stroke events are the hallmark of Wooster's success of late, though the Scots could see a major uptick in success in the sprints, due to the "incoming first-year class being very much a sprint crew," per Harrington. Junior Josh Pearson is at the forefront of the current specialty stroke standouts, evidenced by school-record times in the 200 butterfly (1:50.85), 200 individual medley (1:51.77), and 400 individual medley (4:00.30), and "similar results" are expected this year, per Harrington.
"Josh is really our leader in the 400 and 200 IM," summed up Harrington. "(Sophomore) Tucke Andrewjeski is right behind him. That is a very exciting group and look for big things from them. As our team record-holder, (senior) Doak Schultz will be our number one in the 100 individual medley."
Elsewhere, senior Noah Fox and sophomore Andre Yazhbin may be among the other 400 individual medley leaders within the returnees, according to Harrington, while senior Noah Golovan and sophomore Nathan Ferrence project to be in the mix in the 200 individual medley, per the Scots' coach.
Pearson, sophomore Isaac Shaker, junior Lyonel Fritsch, junior Garrett Morris, and Fox are the returnees back at butterfly, and Harrington could rely on this group in distance freestyle events.
"Andre will continue to be the mainstay within the distance group," shared Harrington. "We are adding Garrett to distance freestyle, and Lyonel will swim some distance events. We will use Tucke, Josh, and Isaac here during dual meets, and then we will see (junior) Jonah McGlumphy and (sophomore) Ian MacLaughlin in the distance freestyle as well.
Sophomore Ryan Gross will continue to be the sprint freestyle leader, per Harrington, who also returns Schultz and sophomores Ferrence, Jed Howrey, Aiden Lentz, and Zach Fickes, and junior Eli Harvey to the group.
Additionally, Wooster's "immediate infusion of first-year talent, should be very, very helpful," according to Harrington.
Max Likins has "risen to be our A backstroker," according to Harrington, who also noted the "sophomore has done some impressive things at the start of the season to make me feel very confident in him being our number one." Lentz and senior Ethan Dasilva project to back up Likins among the returnees.
Andrewjeski and Golovan are the breaststroke leaders, per Harrington, with sophomore Ari Inwood, sophomore Parker Robinson, and senior Sam Muse "rounding out that group," among the returnees.
Sophomore Alex Linderman, a convert from swimming, is the Scots' diver this year, and is someone the "team is very excited about," per Harrington.
Wooster's team is rounded out by first-years Stewie Bovich, Flynn Cowie, Callum Glover, Matt Kaley, Will Laubacher, Will Laymon, Aidan Post, and Boston Sullivan.
Wooster hosts the University of Mount Union to open the season on October 22, and the first half of the season is capped with the program's annual Wooster Invitational, which runs December 1-3. Later in the year, the NCAC Championships are set for February 8-11 at Denison University.
"We have challenged ourselves with our schedule this season, swimming a lot of good teams," shared Harrington. We start with Mount Union and Alfred State, and we have added Ashland University to our dual meet schedule. It is hard to believe I have never gone against them in a dual meet with them being a good team only 20 minutes away. We are looking forward to that meet. As far as the conference is concerned, we have been in a holding pattern the last couple of years. As always, we would like to move up through the ranks of the conference."
