Senior Will Laymon pulled The College of Wooster men's swimming and diving team ahead of Oberlin College on leg two of the 400 freestyle relay, then classmates Boston Sullivan and Will Laubacher held off the Yeomen to secure the Fighting Scots' sixth-place finish at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, which concluded on Saturday evening at Trumbull Aquatics Center. Wooster's women finished comfortably in fifth, scoring over 300 more points than sixth-place Oberlin.

Div. III's preeminent conference meet is led by national championship contenders Denison University and Kenyon College on an annual basis. The NCAC's meet became even deeper this year with the addition of John Carroll University, which entered the league winners of nine straight Ohio Athletic Conference championships on the men's and women's side. Because of the perennial national powers separating themselves from the pack, Wooster often finds itself jockeying back and forth in the standings with a team of similar depth on the men's side, and that was Oberlin this year.

Wooster pulled back ahead of Oberlin during the 200 butterfly. However, the Scots lead was just 1.5 points entering the 400 freestyle relay, and the Yeomen had the better seed time on the heat sheet. That did not matter, as the all-senior quartet of Callum Glover, Laymon, Sullivan, and Laubacher dropped over two seconds off the Scots' seed time for a 3:06.28. The fourth-place swim edged out Oberlin's 3:07.24.

Earlier Saturday, Sullivan went 2:03.71 to break Wooster's school record in the 200 breaststroke. Sullivan placed sixth in the championship final. He is the first Scot to hold the 100 and 200 breaststroke records at the same time since Evan Hagedorn in 2015. Sullivan entered the day second in program history in the 200 breaststroke, trailing Tucker Andrewjeski's 2:05.37. Junior Ryan Stokes backed Sullivan up with the 15th-place time of 2:07.10. Stokes moved up from fifth to third in program history in the event, surpassing Hagedorn's time in the process.

Junior Philipp Drappatz and senior Matt Kaley keyed Wooster's overtaking of Oberlin in the 200 butterfly. Drappatz broke into the program's top-10 with the 13th-place time of 1:58.25. Kaley, who previously occupied the No. 10 spot, checked in at 1:58.78 for 15th for the meet.

Elsewhere, first-year Evan Hasenkampf's 19:19.86 was 12th in the 1,650 freestyle, with that ranking as the third-fastest time in program history and Wooster's top mark since 2017. Hasenkampf's timer was at 9:53.84 at the 1,000 mark, and only W Association Hall of Famer Tom Hungerford's 9:42.04 ranks above Hasenkamp in program history for the 1,000 freestyle.

Laubacher scored a 13th-place time of 16:44.27 in the 1,650 freestyle. Drappatz was close behind, with the 16:47.78 coming in 15th.

Sophomore Ethan Towle led Wooster in the 100 individual medley, taking 18th with a time of 57.20. First-year Hayden Price had the 11th-place time of 1:51.20 in the 200 backstroke, with that ranking as the second-fastest in program history behind Conner Gelwicks' 1:49.90 from a decade ago.

Top-18 finishers on the men's side were rounded out by Glover's 12th-place 46.39 in the 100 freestyle and Laymon's 15th-place 1:55.79 in the 200 backstroke.    

Senior Keara Wiley, first-year Reese Lucas, senior Patricia Chen, and first-year Elena Sandifer capped this year's conference meet with the fifth-place time of 3:39.50 in the 400 freestyle relay.

Sophomore Elizabeth Theobald turned in Wooster's Saturday top-10 program time on the women's side. Her 1:00.25 in the 100 individual medley improved upon the sophomore's third-fastest time in program history and was the seventh-place pace at this year's conference meet.

Senior Ainsley Rogers scored a top-15 finish in the 100 individual medley (1:04.26), while junior Anna Lundquist (17th, 1:06.27) and sophomore Savannah Cox (18th, 1:07.31) rounded out the consolation final. Chen won the 100 individual medley bonus heat, placing 19th overall with a time of 1:06.44.

Sophomore Maggie Layne joined Theobald in Saturday's championship finals. Her 2:31.58 was the eighth-place time in the 200 breaststroke. First-year Jasmyn Coviello went 2:39.69 for 13th and was immediately followed by junior Becca Murray and Cox, who stopped the watch at 2:42.42 and 2:43.60, respectively.

Senior Emma Humbert rounded out the women's Saturday championship final qualifiers, doing so in the 200 backstroke. Humbert was ninth at 2:10.46. First-year Aryanna Harton delivered a strong showing in the consolation final, taking 11th (2:11.54) and Lucas was 13th (2:14.97). First-year Genevieve McCullar placed 18th in the 200 backstroke (2:22.00).

Five Wooster milers were part of the consolation final. Junior Rachel Frank led the quintet at 18:25.55 for 11th. Senior Lacey Mindock went 18:42.88 for 12th, and classmate Bailey Nickols made it three straight Scots in the standings with the 13th-place time of 18:50.57. Lundquist (16th, 19:17.81) and McCullar (18th, 19:53.65) comprised the rest of the top-18 quintet.

Top-15 finishes were rounded out by Wiley's 13th-place showing in the 100 freestyle (53.75), Theobald's 14th-place outing in the 200 butterfly (2:16.01), Dean's 15th-place swim in the 200 butterfly (2:21.42), and Sandifer's 15th-place effort in the 100 freestyle (54.72).

Denison won the men's championship with 1,985 points. The Big Red were followed by Kenyon (1,741.5 points), John Carroll (1,192.5 points), DePauw University (1,095 points), Wabash College (1,030 points), Wooster (789.5 points), Oberlin (786 points), Ohio Wesleyan University (450 points), and Wittenberg University (173 points).

Kenyon captured the women's championships with 1,944 points. The Owls were followed by Denison (1,853 points), DePauw (1,377.5 points), John Carroll (1,037 points), Wooster (991 points), Oberlin (681 points), Wittenberg (579.5 points), and Ohio Wesleyan (424 points).