Three School Records Broken During Wooster Invite

Eric Babbitt had a big weekend, helping two relay teams to school records and winning two individual events.

Three College of Wooster school records fell during this weekend’s Wooster Invitational, held at Wooster High School, and the Fighting Scots men’s swimming and diving team secured a runner-up finish out of nine teams, only being edged by Westminster (Pa.) College.

Wooster scored 1,636 points over the three-day event, just 35 behind Westminster (1,671). Ironically, the two competed in a dual just two weekends ago, and the Scots won that one by a very narrow margin (105-100). Also totaling 1,000 points at the Wooster Invitational were Case Western Reserve University (1,296.5) and Ohio Northern University (1,090).

Two of the records were courtesy of relay teams, as the 400 medley of Logan LaBerge, Andrew Olsen, Eric Babbitt, and Michael Saltzman closed day one’s action in a big way, finishing in first and setting a new school standard in the process with a time of 3:31.06. The 200 medley group carried that momentum over, as LaBerge, Olsen, Brendan Horgan, and Babbitt kicked off the second day with a win and another record, hitting the wall in 1:35.67.

The third Scot record came in an individual event and may have been the most impressive, as Olsen took down a 20-year old mark with his time of 1:00.01 in the 100 breaststroke. He tied for second-place. George Miller owned the previous best in that event via his mark of 1:00.04 back in 1987. Olsen also swam to fourth in the 200 breast (2:13.53) and fifth in the 500 freestyle (4:55.16) during the weekend.

Wooster combined for five other victories, led by Babbitt’s individual sweep in the butterfly races. In the 100 fly, he won with a time of 51.37, just shy of the school record (51.31), and he paced the field in the 200, recording a mark of 1:56.06. Another who nearly re-set his own Scot record was Ryan Radtke, as his 1:59.16 time in the 200 IM not only bested the field but was just 0.42 off his standard from last season. LaBerge notched a win during the 200 backstroke, hitting the wall in 1:57.26.

The Scots’ remaining first-place finish actually came during the first race, as Babbitt, Saltzman, Horgan, and Radtke joined forces for a time of 1:25.83 in the 200 freestyle.

A number of other Wooster swims during the preliminaries resulted in spots in the championship heat (top-eight). Complementing Babbitt, who also was runner-up in the 50 free with a personal-best time of 21.58, in the butterfly were Matt Dominski and Horgan. Dominski placed fifth in the 200 (2:02.28) and seventh in the 100 (53.96) and Horgan was eighth in both (54.67 in 100, 2:12.07 in 200).

The Scots’ top event may have been the backstroke. Right behind LaBerge in the 200 was Adel El-Adawy as he was the runner-up in that race (1:59.88), and four Wooster swimmers were among the top-eight in the 100 back. LaBerge was third (54.09), El-Adawy fourth (54.82), Brett Dawson fifth (55.67), and Saltmzan eighth (57.00).

Additionally, LaBerge posted a runner-up effort in the 500 free (4:48.51), Radtke finished in third in the 400 IM (4:19.14) and fourth in the 1650 free (17:13.29), Horgan and El-Adawy were fifth (2:02.12) and sixth (2:02.32) in the 200 IM, respectively, and Saltzman came in seventh in both the 50 free (22.20) and 100 free (48.78).

Wooster’s divers added some key points, too, as Dustin Klein’s efforts on the three-meter board were good for fourth-place (228.15) and Alex Gauvin led the Scots’ three-man contingent on the one-meter with a fourth-place finish overall (342.25).

The Scots are off from competition until a dual meet at Hiram College on Jan. 11, 2008.