Wright State, Denison provide Wittenberg swimmers with stiff competition

A challenging regular season schedule continued for Wittenberg's men's and women's swimming teams, as both posted two defeats over weekend despite some fine individual performances. The Tigers carry identical 6-3 overall dual meet records into the final regular season meet of the season this weekend against Case Western Reserve University.

On Friday night, neighboring NCAA Division I rival Wright State University topped Wittenberg's men 125-88 and the women 120-99 at a meet in Fairborn. Then on Saturday, the Tigers returned home for a tough match-up against Denison University's 2000 NCAA runner-up squad, which topped the men 168-111 and women 168-106.

Junior Rachel Juergens (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) made her mark on the Wittenberg Natatorium on Friday during the defeat. Juergens won the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:08.34, the fastest time ever turned in by a swimmer at Wittenberg. Juergens also put her name in the record books in the 1,000 free by becoming the first woman in school history to make the mark of 10:34.89.

Junior Melissa Beck (Williamsville, NY/Carmel) posted a pair of second place finishes in the meet, taking the red ribbon in both the 100 butterfly and 100 free. Junior Paula Hauser (Mason, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame) also had a pair of seconds in the 50 and 100 breaststroke events.

Senior Alison Dingus (Lexington, Ky./Catholic) had a second-place finish in the 200 IM and a third-place finish in the 200 free. Freshman Courtney Galliger (Eagan, Minn./Eagan) finished third in the 50 free and Melanie Edsall finished third in the 50 backstroke.

In relay events, the team of Courtney Paul, Betsy Godin, Courtney Smith and Nicole Kinzler took second place in the 200 free relay. Hauser, Beck, Edsall, and Galliger took second place in the 200 medley relay.

"The tough competition that we have faced the past two weekends has been very good for us," Hauser said. "It has given us great experience to take to conference with us."

Senior Aaron Edsall (Circleville, Ohio/Circleville) was the leading scorer for the men. Edsall took first place in both the 50 and 100 back events. The lone returning All-American for the Tigers, Edsall also finished second in the 50 free.

Freshman Steve Rader (Concord, Ohio/St. Ignatius) was runner-up in both the 50 and 100 fly. Senior Eric Jones (Miamisburg, Ohio/Miamisburg) finished second in the 50 breast and 200 IM. Junior Jeremy Lazarus(Moens, France/Ferney Voltaire) came in third in the 100 breast and junior Bob Rafferty (Mt. Vernon, Ohio/Mt Vernon) finished third in the 200 free.

The 200 free relay team of Josh Schnacke, Matt Werbach, Alex Berger, and Rafferty finished second, while the 200 medley relay team of Edsall, Rader, Lazarus and Rafferty took third.

"We swam very well this weekend considering our opponents. All of the races were very close. There was no race that we got blown away in," Lazarus said.

The Tigers will face off against Case Western at home next weekend. The meet versus former North Coast Athletic Conference rival CWRU will mark the end of the regular season for the Tigers before they head to the NCAC championships the weekend of February 10 in Canton, Ohio.