Swimmers Add three More Victories

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Wittenberg's swimmers and divers continued to build momentum as they took three victories over the weekend. Both the men's and the women's teams took victories over North Coast Athletic Conference member Ohio Wesleyan University and non-conference schools Ohio Northern University and Wilmington College. 

The men outscored Ohio Wesleyan and Wilmington on Friday night, 68-27 and 84-9 respectively, while the women did the same by scores of 80-15 and 82-12 respectively. On Saturday the scene was much the same against Ohio Northern as the men rolled past the Polar Bears, 168-74, and the women were also victorious, 164-73. 

The women showed their competition who was in charge of the water this weekend. Of the 22 events over the two-day period, Wittenberg did not falter once. They took first place in every event and showed even greater tenacity by taking two of the top three scoring positions in 16 of those 22 events. 

The men turned in first place finishes in 20 of 22 events and were able to fill two of the top three scoring positions in 19 of those 22 events. On Saturday the men swept first through third in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard freestyle events. 

"This was a very strong weekend for both our women and our men," said senior captain Melanie Edsall. "We performed very well both on Friday and Saturday. We were not only able to take three victories, but people's individual performances were outstanding."

Leading the way for the women by turning in four first place finishes for the weekend, was Rachel Juergens. She took first place in the 1000-yard and 500-yard freestyle events on Friday and first place in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke on Saturday.

Melissa Beck took three first places. She brought in two on Friday night in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly, and another on Saturday in the 100 breaststroke.

Allison Dingus, Melanie Edsall and Courtney Galliger were all double winners for the weekend. Dingus took first place in the 200 IM and 100 fly, Edsall took first in the 100 back and 1000 free, while Galliger took the blue ribbon in both the freestyle sprinting events, the 50 and 100.

Paul Hauser took first place on Friday night in the 100 breaststroke. Nicole Kinzler look first on Saturday in the 200 freestyle, along with Courtney Paul taking first in the 50 free, Betsy Godin in the 100 freestyle and Elizabeth Bradley also added first place points in Saturday's 500 freestyle.

In the diving events on Saturday, Holly Erikson won first place points on the 3-meter board, and Jennifer Ingwalson gave the Lady Tigers a second place finish on the 1-meter board.

Senior captain Aaron Edsall led the men's team. Edsall brought the Tigers first place points in four events. On Friday, Edsall won the 50 free and 100 backstroke, while on Saturday he did the same in the 200 IM and 100 freestyle.

Freshman Brandon Morris gave the Tigers three first place finishes for the weekend. Morris outswam his competition in the 800, 400 and 1000 freestyle events. Steve Rader also put first place points on the board in three of four individual events swum. Rader finished strong in the 200 freestyle, 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

Eric Jones was a double winner this weekend in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly.

Also stacking up first place finishes was Jeremy Lazarus in the 100 breaststroke, Jason Hill in the 200 freestyle, Joshua Schnacke in the 50 freestyle, Matt Werbach in the 100 backstroke and Bob Rafferty in the 500 freestyle.

Both the men and the women now stand at 5-1. They will be traveling to Oberlin this weekend for their final conference match-up of the semester.