Tigers Finish First Half Of The Season With Strong Showing At DePauw Inviational
The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams put the wraps on the first half of the 2004-05 season with a pair of impressive finishes at the annual DePauw Invitational.
Dan McGuire
The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams put
the wraps on the first half of the 2004-05 season with a pair of
impressive finishes at the annual DePauw Invitational. The Tiger
women captured first place in a nine-team field, outpacing the host
team among several other perennial powerhouses. The Tiger men took
third place behind nationally ranked DePauw and North Coast
Athletic Conference rival Wabash.
The women had four of the top 10 individuals in the meet, in terms
of team points scored. Junior Becca Searcy (Shelbyville,
Ky./Shelby County) led the way thanks to a trio of
first-place finishes, followed by sophomore Jenny Mulligan
(Cheyney, Pa./Delaware Valley Friends) in second, junior
Amy Conner (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) in
fourth and junior Betany Yeakley (Wilmington,
Ohio/Wilmington) in sixth.
Individuals winners included Searcy in the 500-yard freestyle and
400 Individual Medley with an NCAA B Cut time and the 1650 free,
Mulligan in both backstroke events and Conner in the 200
breaststroke. Every team member had at least one season-best time,
and many had lifetime bests, according to first-year Head Coach
Natalie Koukis.
Along with the individual winners, the Tigers won the meet with
depth, as evidenced most by the 200 back in which they had six of
the top eight finishers.
On the men's side, the Tigers had two individuals finish among the
top 10 point-getters: senior Blake Troxel (Bluffton,
Ind./Norwell) in eighth place and freshman Ryan
Schramm (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) in ninth.
Event highlights included Troxel's fourth-place finish in the 200
IM, second in the 200 breast and third in the 100 breast, Schramm's
third in the 500 free and second in the 400 IM, sophomore
Matt Reiss' (Beavercreek, Ohio/Dayton Carroll)
fourth in the 500 free and third in the 1650 free, sophomore
Sean Wolf's (White Lake, Mich./Walled Lake
Central) fourth in the 100 free, and senior
Jonathan Newcomer's (Valencia, Pa./Mars Area)
third-place finishes in the two backstroke events. Also of note was
junior Dan McGuire's (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria)
performance on the last leg of the 200-free relay, in which he
turned in a personal-best time of 20.94, one of the top times in
school history covering 50 yards.
The Tigers head to Florida for their annual training trip next week
and then resume competition with a home dual meet against
Transvylvania on Jan. 14. Wittenberg will be very busy for the
month that follows, ending with the NCAC Championships Feb. 10-12
in Canton, Ohio.
Next: 1/14 vs. Transylvania, 6 p.m.