Men's Swim and Dive Take Ninth at Wooster Invitational
WOOSTER, OH - For the second day in a row, Wittenberg Swimming and Diving set a season best in all 20 of their individual events in the preliminaries in day three of the Wooster Invitational, which acts as the midseason meet for the Tigers. If the past three days are of any indication, it looks as though the Tigers are in midseason form, as in three days of prelims only one individual swim was not a season best for the Tigers. Along with the 20 season best times, Wittenberg put up nine lifetime best times, as they have over the past three days as well.
The lifetime bests in the prelims were started off by Bekah Lebold (Mount Vernon, OH / Mount Vernon), as she set a new best in the women's 100 yard individual medley. Once again, Lebold set another lifetime best in the women's 100 yard freestyle along with McKenna Clark (Waynesville, OH / Carroll), as she set a lifetime best in her 50 split as well. Later in the day, in the men's 200 yard breaststroke, Tre Wynn (Columbus, OH / New Albany) set a lifetime best of his own to add to the totals for the Tigers. Kiara Haislip (Glendale, AZ / Ironwood) not only clocked a lifetime best in the 100 yard freestyle, but also set a PR in her first split of the race as well. Aidan Dannenfelser (Cincinnati, OH / St. Xavier) set his career best in the 100 yard freestyle along with MJ Fantroy (Indianapolis, IN / Warren Central), Tatum Paglia (Indianapolis, IN / Ben Davis) and Orry Farrington (Waterville, OH / Anthony Wayne), as each of them set a lifetime best in the race. Owen Gabel (New Bremen, OH / New Bremen) had the best one meter diving of his career, scoring a 316.05, which was good for second place.
In the finals, the women closed out the weekend in a phenominal way, with six different swimmers logging seven new lifetime bests. Lebold added another best to her 100 yard individual medley and after adeed another lifetime best in the 100 yard freestyle. Allison Browning (Hillsboro, OH / Hillsboro) competed in the 100 yard freestyle as well and set her career best as well. Clark also hit a lifetime best in the 100 free, while she started off her first 50 free in the best time of her career. Two more swimmers came out of the 200 yard breaststroke with lifetime bests as Annie Gammon (Cincinnati, OH / Cincinnati Country Day) and Sophie Paskiet (Toledo, OH / St. Ursula) logged their best times. Gammon again set a career best as she led off the 400 freestyle relay with a leg under one minute. Teagan O'Connor (Fort Wayne, IN / Carroll) was only 0.24 second from her personal best and a new school record in the 200 yard butterfly. After three days of competition, the women's team came away with a fifth place finish, totaling 712 points. Taking first was Wooster with 1628.5 points, Mount Union was second with 1437 and Frostburg State rounded out the top three with 1307, while Rose-Hulman took fourth over Wittenberg by 103.5 points at 815.5 total.
The Tiger men's team competed well in the final day. In the finals, the closest a swimmer came to a lifetime best was Mason Steen (Leroy, OH / Riverside), as he was only 0.14 seoconds away his top mark in the 200 yard breaststroke. The men took ninth after day three, finishing with 222 points, which was 25 points ahead of tenth place Heidelberg, finishing with 197.
After an impressive weekend for the Tigers, Head Coach Gabe Rastatter said, "I am beyond proud of this team and the work they've put in this season so far. These results are a direct reflection of their dedication, hard work, and perseverance. This is a tough group. This past weekend we overcame adversity, we won the mental battles, we never lost focus, we came together as a family, we supported each other and we swam lights out.
"It's important to note that the team is not fully rested or tapered at this point in the season. Some of them didn't even shave. We only 'rested' for a few days before the meet. For them to be hitting the times they are at this point in the season under those circumstances is incredibly encouraging and exciting. I cannot wait to light up the pool at NCACs. Look out for the Tigers, we're coming."
Written by: Grant Martin