Tigers Off To Solid Start In 2004-05 Season

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Ryan Schramm

The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams are off to a solid start in the 2004-05 season. The Tiger men are 2-2 in dual meets and took sixth place in the North Coast Athletic Conference Relays last month. The Tiger women are 3-1 in dual meets and took fifth in the NCAC Relays, just a handful of points out of third place.

On Oct. 30, the Tiger men were defeated 153-84 by Wooster and the Tiger women went down to a 127-107 defeat against the Scots in their home pool. On the men's side, the lone winner of the day for Wittenberg was freshman Ryan Schramm (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) in the 1,000-yard and 500-yard freestyle events. For the women, winners included freshman Courtney Roth (Gurnee, Ill./Lake Forest) in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, sophomore Jen Mulligan (Cheyney, Pa./Delaware Valley Friends) in the 200 butterfly and junior Becca Searcy (Shelbyville, Ky./Bloomington) in the 200 breaststroke.

Last weekend was an extremely busy one for the Tigers as they competed on Friday night in a tri-meet against Wilmington and Ohio Wesleyan in the Battling Bishops' home pool, and then traveled to DePauw on Saturday for a dual. The men went 2-1 in those three meets, defeating Ohio Wesleyan, 77-22, and Wilmington, 62-42, before losing at DePauw, 176-63. The women went 3-0 with scores of 62-48 over Ohio Wesleyan, 74-30 over Wilmington and 127-104 over DePauw.

Friday night individual first-place finishes for the Tiger men were gained by sophomore Matt Reiss (Beavercreek, Ohio/Dayton Carroll) in the 1,000 free, sophomore Sean Wolf (White Lake, Mich./Walled Lake Central) in the 100 and 200 free, freshman Nick Pierson (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) in the 100 backstroke and 200 Individual Medley, sophomore Cody Nicely (Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden) in the 1- and 3-meter diving events, senior Blake Troxel (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell) in the 100 fly and Schramm in the 500 free. On Saturday, the lone winner was Schramm in the 1,000 free.

Friday night individual victories for the Tiger women were accomplished by sophomore Katie Spittler (Lexington, Ky./Catholic) in the 1,000 free in a strong time of 11:01.14 and the 500 free, Searcy in the 200 free, junior Betany Yeakley (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington) in the 100 free and 200 IM, Roth in both diving events and Mulligan in the 100 fly and 100 back. Then on Saturday, individual winners included Spittler in the 1,000 free, Yeakley in the 200 free, Roth in the 1-meter diving, Mulligan in the 100 back and Searcy in the 500 free.

Next: 11/12 vs. Wabash, 7 p.m.
11/13 at Oberlin, 1 p.m.