Three Wittenberg Athletes Earn Winter Sports All-America Honors

Skip Ivery

Steve Rader

Rebecca Searcy

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Another banner winter sports season came to a conclusion recently as three Wittenberg student-athletes earned All-America designations for their outstanding performances in NCAA Division III competition.

Junior Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) finished second in the 55-meter high hurdles at the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship meet at DePauw University on March 15. Ivery broke his own school record with a blistering time of 7.51 in the finals of the national meet. He was one of three competitors within .01 seconds of one another in a fantastic photo finish.

Also an all-conference wide receiver on the Wittenberg football team, Ivery turned in one of the best finishes for an individual athlete in NCAA competition in school history in his first appearance at a national track and field championship event. Bob Cherry '64 won an individual NCAA championship in 1964. The top eight competitors in each event are designated as All-America. As a team, Wittenberg wound up tied for 23rd in the nation thanks to Ivery's eight points.

Junior Steve Rader (Painesville, Ohio/Cleveland St. Ignatius) also earned All-America honors. A three-time national meet qualifier, Rader matched his best performance ever with a pair of fourth-place finishes at the NCAA Division III Men's Swimming and Diving National Championships at Emory University March 20-22. Also a two-time All-American in 2002, Rader finished fourth in the 200-yard Individual Medley and fourth in the 200-yard butterfly, the latter in a school record time of 1:51.48. In addition, Rader finished 12th (Honorable Mention All-America) in the 100-yard butterfly in a school-record time of 50.57.

Like track and field, the top eight in each event are designated All-America. As a team, Wittenberg posted a school-record tying 35 points, all scored by Rader, en route to 21st place.

Rounding things out, freshman Rebecca Searcy (Shelbyville, Ky./Shelby County Bloomington) finished 10th in the 400-yard Individual Medley, 11th in the 1650-yard freestyle and 23rd in the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Division III Women's Swimming and Diving National Championships at Emory University March 15-17. All three finishes were a result of personal-best times by Searcy, with the first two being good for Honorable Mention All-America honors. As a team, Wittenberg finished 40th nationally with 13 points, all scored by Searcy.

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