Wittenberg swimming and diving teams prep for nationals

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg University men's and women's swimming and diving teams enjoyed a breakthrough at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships last month. Now comes the hard part - building on that success.

That's exactly the challenge the Tigers and sixth-year Head Coach Bob Rueppel now face. First up is the womens NCAA Division III meet, which takes place Thursday-Saturday, March 8-10 in Buffalo, NY. Four Wittenberg swimmers will compete in the women's meet - senior Melanie Edsall of Circleville, Ohio, junior Melissa Beck of Williamsville, N.Y., junior Rachel Juergens of Springfield, Ohio and junior Paula Hauser of Mason, Ohio. FreshmanCourtney Galliger of Eagan, Minn. also qualified for the NCAA meet in a relay event, but the Wittenberg relay was bumped from the meet as other times from around the nation were reported in recent weeks.

Then next week four more Wittenberg swimmers will compete in the men's meet - senior Aaron Edsall of Circleville, Ohio, junior Bob Raffertyof Mt Vernon, Ohio, junior Jeremy Lazarus of Moens, France and freshman Steve Rader of Concord, Ohio. NCAA Division III men's competition takes place March 15-17 in Buffalo.

Participation in the national meets culminates a fine season for Wittenberg's swimming and diving teams, one that included identical 7-4 dual meet records for the men and women and a pair of fourth-place finishes in the NCAC meet. The winning dual meet records were the best for the program in more than a decade, while the NCAC finish was among the schools best while competing against perennial national powerhouses Kenyon College and Denison University, the two favorites in the upcoming NCAA meets.

For Rueppel, this season has been a long time coming. He has coached several top-notch swimmers since his arrival on campus in 1995, but there is added satisfaction in winning dual meets and competing with nationally recognized programs.

"The 2000-01 swimming season has been rewarding for this team, but this isn't the time for us to be satisfied with the progress we have made," Rueppel said. "We have made great strides, and we're now looking to continue making progress at the national meets." Rueppel has built a deep, talented roster, and much of that talent is young. Witness the fact that six of the eight swimmers headed to Buffalo this week and next.

Leading the charge to nationals is Juergens, who turned in one of the finest individual performances in school history at the conference meet, finishing second in the 200 free and 1650 free and contributing to two third-place relay finishes as well. She qualified for the national meet in the 1650 free, 500 free and 200 free, is scheduled to compete in the 400 medley relay, 400 free relay and 200 free relay there as well, and, most remarkably, set four individual school records in the process. Juergens posted Wittenberg-best times of 1:55.85 in the 200 free, 5:04.09 in the 500 free, 17:24.28 in the 1650 free, and 10:29.21 in the 1000 free (recorded as a split during the 1650 competition).

Juergens was also an integral part of three of Wittenberg's four record-setting relay times posted at the NCAC meet. Joining her on the 400 free relay, which posted a time of 3:37.61, were Beck, senior Alison Dingus of Lexington, Ky., and Galliger. The 800 free relay foursome of Beck, Dingus, junior Betsy Godin of Downington, Pa., and Juergens finished in school record time of 7:57.32. The 200 medley relay of Melanie Edsall, Hauser, Beck and Galliger swam a time of 1:50.15 to establish a new school standard. And the 400 medley relay quartet of Edsall, Hauser, Beck and Juergens recorded a new school best in a time of 4:00.57.

Hauser advanced to the national meet for the first time by setting school records in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events, putting up times of 1:08.58 and 2:26.66 respectively. Beck, who also will be making her first trip to nationals, qualified in the 100 butterfly and 100 free. Melanie Edsall put up times in several relays that were enough to qualify her for the year-end competition.

Aaron Edsall, who captured the NCAC title in the 100-yard backstroke in a school-record time of 51.22, leads the men's team. Edsall, who is just the third Tiger swimmer to advance to the NCAA Championships four straight years, made the national meet in the 200 back and 50 freestyle, and he swam a school record 46.30 in the 100 free, as well. He also plans to compete in the 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay, 400 free relay and 200 free relay (teams that advance four or more swimmers to the NCAA meet can enter those competitors in relay events) there.

Lazarus won Wittenberg's other individual conference title, following in his brothers footsteps by winning the 100 breaststroke at the conference meet. Julien Lazarus was a four-time conference champion in the event from 1995-98, and he remains the schools only four-time All-American. Rader qualified in the 200 Individual Medley, and he will also compete in Buffalo in the 100 butterfly, 100 free and all four relays. Rader, Edsall and Lazarus will be joined in those relays by Rafferty, whose times in the splits at the conference meet advanced him for the first time in his career and contributed to two school records. In the 400 free relay, Edsall, Rafferty, Lazarus and Rader posted a school record time of 3:10.24, and then in the 800 free relay, Edsall, Rafferty, Rader and freshman Matt Werbach of Painesville, Ohio put up a mark of 7:03.91.