Tigers Finish Third At NCAC Relays

The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams may have made an important breakthrough last weekend at the annual NCAC Relays event, hosted by Kenyon but conducted at Wooster. The Tiger men and women both finished third in the ultra-competitive competition behind only the top two teams in the nation each year, Kenyon and Denison.

The women tied for third with Wooster, which finished 10th in the nation a year ago. The team's best finish was in the 200-yard backstroke relay, in which the foursome of freshman Jenny Mulligan (Cheyney, Pa./Delaware Valley Friends), freshman Shantel Sechrist (Saltsburg, Pa./Saltsburg), sophomore Betany Yeakley (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington) and senior Courtney Galliger (Eagan, Minn./Eagan) took second place in a time of 1:55.21.

Another strong finish was turned in by the quartet of Tiger swimmers who finished fourth in the 400-yard Individual Medley relay with a time of 4:21.61. The members of that relay were Yeakley, Mulligan, sophomore Amy Conner (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) and Becca Searcy (Shelbyville, Ky./Shelby County).

On the men's side, the Tigers finished third, pulling in just ahead of rivals Wabash, Hiram and Allegheny. The Little Giants finished third a year ago and went on to take a top 20 spot in the NCAA Division III standings in March.

Wittenberg's best finish in an individual event was posted in the 200-yard butterfly relay. The foursome of Steve Rader (Concord, Ohio/St. Ignatius), senior Kyle Dunaway (Warren, Ohio/Howland), senior Alex Berger (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay) and sophomore Dan McGuire (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) took fourth place in a time of 1:41.74.

In addition, the 400 IM relay quartet of Rader, Dunaway, Berger and junior Blake Troxel (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell) claimed third place in that event with a time of 3:53.92. And rounding things out, the Tigers scored significant points in the diving events as freshman Cody Nicely (Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden) turned in strong finishes in the 1-meter and 3-meter events to lead the relay teams to second place in each competition.

Next: 11/1 vs. Wooster, 1 p.m.