The important milestones of the Wooster High swim teams are on display on the walls of the Ellen Shapiro natatorium: the championship banners, the team and school records and mementoes of past All-Ohioans and All-Americans.

The boys swim team added another laurel to that list of accomplishments Jan. 21 when the Generals knocked off Jackson 98-88. Wooster is now 12-2 on the season, but the memorable aspect to the win was that it was the 500th in school history.

“It was pretty exciting,” said Wooster head coach Jeff DeHaan. “That was one of our goals at the beginning of the season, but we were trying to keep it on the down low until it happened.”

Wooster has enjoyed tremendous success under DeHaan and assistant Paul White as they have accounted for 198 of those 500 victories.

“I think it comes back to the mentality of buying into the system and realizing if you do the workouts the way they are prescribed and have been done over the last 14 years, it will work,” said DeHaan. “In year No. 15, the boys are swimming fast. They’ve bought into the system.

“The mental part is if you believe in what you’re doing, you will do better. It gives them that added bonus when you see a big group of young guys come in over the last three years and a team that is dominantly freshmen and sophomores … swimming fast. It’s exciting to see the tradition continue.”

The meet with Jackson was a “chess match,” said DeHaan.

“It went back and forth,” he said. “We’d go 11-5 and get a lead; then they would go 11-5 and that lead would come back down. … They knew what we had and we knew what they had. Fortunately we won two of the three relays.

“The back and forth made it more exciting.”

That Wooster won was made more enjoyable by the fact “we have a lot of sickness going around,” said DeHaan. “It came down to swimming well despite having off-days or being sick.”

Daniel Ackerman won a pair of individual events for Wooster, taking the 100 IM and 100 breaststroke, while he joined the 200 medley relay of B.J. Graham, David Goodrich and Jacob Ackerman to forge that victory. In the 200 free relay, Bryan Parker, Joel Jones, Matthew Dyer and Cooper Orr joined forces for that victory.

Other wins on the historic day came from Dyer in the 200 free, Jacob Ackerman in the 100 fly, Graham in the 100 free and Parker in the 50.

With the 500th behind them, DeHaan is looking ahead for more.

“You never know what is going to happen,” said DeHaan. “I came in to clean some things up and change the attitude in my first couple years, but I never could have done it without Paul. With his position (as an intervention specialist) in the behavior room and working in that field, he’s able to figure out kids. We work really well together and that’s vital to have with a head and assistant coach.

“He is definitely a huge part of why we have been successful and what we are trying to teach. It’s definitely more than just swimming.”

DeHaan came to Wooster from nearby Wadsworth, arriving in the 1997-98 season in time for a 10-3 campaign. Wooster fell off to 6-6 the next year, but there have been few down years since.

“I knew Wooster always excelled at relays,” said DeHaan. “I was fascinated by that at Wadsworth, and it was the same with their age-group relays. Wooster thrives on relay swimming and that’s exciting.

“I needed a job and this happened to be it. They were looking for an elementary aquatics teacher and aquatics coordinator,” he added. “They were clear: ‘Candidates should be prepared to make a long-term commitment for high school coaching to be considered.’ That was underlined and bolded. That was perfect for my background and it’s what I wanted to do.”

It’s obviously worked out well for both.