Wittenberg Swimming And Diving Wrap Up A Strong Season With Two Swimmers At NCAA Division III Championship Meet

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Steve Rader

The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams were represented at the NCAA Division III championship meets, hosted by the College of Wooster at Miami University March 14-16 (women) and 21-23 (men), by senior Rachel Juergens (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) and sophomore SteveRader (Painesville, Ohio/Cleveland St. Ignatius). 

Rader, who also advanced to the national meet in 2001 and already holds six school records, made the biggest splash, finishing fourth in the 200-yard butterfly, good for All-America honors. Along with the national accolades, Rader's time of 1:52.41 was a personal best and a new school record. During the season, Rader's time dropped 12 full seconds, quite an astounding figure. 

He also added a pair of Honorable Mention All-America finishes in the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 butterfly. In the 200 IM, Rader had a personal best time of 1:53.39 en route to an 11-place finish. In the 100 fly, his 12th place finish was highlighted by a personal-best time of 50.65, which also was a school record. By scoring 26 points by himself in the national meet, Rader was unable to keep pace with perennial national champion Kenyon, but he did earn the Tigers' 25th place in the team competition. 

Struggling to overcome the effects of the flu, Juergens, who holds 10 school records and qualified for nationals in 2001 as well, earned Honorable Mention All-America in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Her career-best time likely would have earned her a second straight All-America placement, but shewasn't healthy enough to put that together, finishing with a time of 17:42.03.She also competed in the 500-yard free and the 400-yard Individual Medley, but she didn't make the top 16 in either event. 

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