Swim and Dive Continues Great Midseason Performance
Wooster, OH-After day one of the Wooster Invitational meet where the Tiger Swim and Dive team broke a record and set multiple season and personal bests, the Tigers came back for the prelims on day two and performed just as well, if not better. All 20 of the individual swims during the prelims were season bests and eight of them were lifetime bests. Not only did the Tigers come away with lifetime and season bests, but three swimmers ended seeded first or second for the finals.
For the women, Jade Paumi (Lexington, OH / Lafayette) led off the 200 yard medley relay with a 50 yard backstroke lifetime best. Allison Browning (Hillsboro, OH / Hillsbroro) followed her up with a lifetime best in the 200 yard freestyle. In the 100 yard backstroke, freshman Kiara Haislip (Glendale, AZ / Ironwood) put up her lifetime best as well. Teagan O'Connor (Fort Wayne, IN / Carroll) earned a first-place seed in the 100 yard fly with her season best time of 58.04. Sophie Paskiet (Toledo, OH / St. Ursula) added another first-place seed in the 100 yard breaststroke with her season best 1:06.13 time and her teammate Shania Stone (Cincinnati, OH / Princeton) was right behind, earning a second-place seeding with a time of 1:06.79.
The men performed well in prelims themselves, setting five lifetime bests in total. Tatum Paglia (Indianapolis, IN) started off with a new lifetime best in the 100 yard fly. In the 200 free, Andrew Tackett (Cuyahoga Falls, OH / St. Vincent-St. Mary) and MJ Fantroy (Indianapolis, IN / Warren Central) added two more lifetime bests on the day. Tre Wynn (Columbus, OH / New Albany) added another lifetime best in the 100 yard breaststroke and Owen Gabel (New Bremen, OH / New Bremen) capped off the prelims with his lifetime best in the 100 yard backstroke.
In the finals, the women started with a first-place finish in the one meter diving, as freshman Payton Oleksinski (Ypsilanti, MI / Ann Arbor Skyline) completed 11 dives and set her lifetime best with a score of 303.58. O'Connor added another first place finish in the 100 yard fly in a time of 57.59, her lifetime best, and won by over a second and was just 0.15 seconds short of the school record. Stone marked the third first-place finish of the day for Wittenberg as she posted a lifetime best of 1:05.88 in the 100 yard breaststroke. The women's 200 yard medley relay team set a new season best before Jade Paumi also increased her season best in the 400 yard individual medley. Annie Gammon (Cincinnati, OH / Cincinnati Country Day) set a new season best for herself in the 200 yard fresstyle and McKenna Clark (Waynesville, OH / Carroll) set a lifetime best for herself in the same race. To close out the day for the women, the 800 yard freestyle relay team set a new season best as well.After day two, the women's team is in fifth place with 505 points. The top three consists of Wooster with 928.5, Mount Union with 927 and Frostburg State with 884. Rose-Hulman is in fourth with 531.5, just 26.5 points ahead of the Tigers.
To lead off the finals for the men, like the women's 200 medley relay, the men's team also set a season best.Wynn built on his successful day one by adding a new lifetime best in the 100 yard breaststroke and Mason Steen (Leroy, OH / Riverside) set his season best during the 100 breaststroke as well. Closing out day two fo the meet, was the men's 800 yard freestyle team, which set another season best to make it four total for the men.After the second day of competition, the men stayed in 9th place with 153 points, ahead of Heidelberg with 111. The men's top three is Mount Union in first with 1115, Rose-Hulman with 1070 in second and Wooster rounds out the top three with 921 points.
The last day of the Wooster Invitational begins with prelims tomorrow, Saturday December 6th, at 10:00 AM with another round of prelims and the final round of finals will begin at 6:00 PM with more diving in between the two.
Written By: Grant Martin