WOOSTER, Ohio.— After a late night of fast swims on Friday evening, the Malone University men's and women's swim and dive team traveled to the College of Wooster for another session on Saturday, October 28.

Prior to the meet, head coach Nicholas Wertz was looking forward to seeing how his teams, the freshmen in particular, would do after getting their first taste of back-to-back races this season. Despite both the men's and women's teams losing out to the hosts, Wertz was pleased with his teams' performances.

"I felt like we had a great meet against Wooster. Immediately following a long night of racing last night, everybody hung in there for another long meet. It gives me confidence for how we're preparing for our mid-season invitational," Wertz commented after the meet finished.

The men's team lost 230.5-57.5, while the women fell 202-58. The men's top point scorers were Braden Knoch (13), Alex Tovtyn (7.5), and Joseph Turley (7). The top performers for the women's team were Sydney Fleming (20), Claire Sullivan (18), and Lauryn Ebersole (9).

The Pioneers opened up the meet with the 200-yard medley relay in which the women's relay team of Sydney Fleming, Molly Maloy, Lauryn Ebersole, and Skyler Shannon placed third with a time of 2:04.12. The men's side also placed third as the team consisting of Luke Kline, Alex Tovtyn, Elisha Thompkins, and Braden Knoch compiled a time of 1:44.69. The team of Noah Budd, Lincoln Rickleff, Brady Porter, and Joseph Turley finished sixth with a time of 1:48.65.

Claire Sullivan had an electrifying swim for her 1000-yard free with a time of 11:04.46, beating the field by over eight seconds. On the men's side, Turley placed second (11:18.36) and Porter came in third (11:42.80). Sullivan also finished first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:27.77.

Thompkins set a PR in the 200-yard free with a time of 1:57.05, placing third. Rickleff also raced into a PR for the 200-breaststroke with a time of 2:35.75.

Fleming placed first in the 100-yard backstroke (1:03.70) while Shannon placed fifth (1:13.15). Budd placed third (59.87) and Kline placed fifth (1:00.83) in the backstroke. Fleming also took first place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:19.23.

Maloy placed fourth in the 200-butterfly (2:46.00) and Porter also placed fourth in the same race with a time of 2:23.07. Ebersole placed second in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.72.

Jace Ward placed fourth in the 1-meter dive with a score of 123.90.

Knoch sped into first for the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.31. He also came in second for the 50-yard free by one hundredth of a second with a time of 22.80.

What's Next

The Pioneers will next compete when they host Baldwin Wallace University on Friday, November 3.