Tiger Teams Finish Strong On Final Day Of 2011 NCAC Championship Meet
CANTON, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams closed a fine 2010-11 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship meet with a pair of strong team finishes.
CANTON, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams closed a fine 2010-11 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship meet with a pair of strong team finishes. The Tiger men moved up to finish fourth with 691 points, while the Tiger women slipped to fifth, despite another record-breaking day from a promising freshman.
Denison took the top spot in both competitions, and Kenyon placed second in both. On the men's side, Wabash pulled into third place with 805 points, followed by the Tigers, who narrowly edged out Wooster by 18.5 points for fourth. For the women, Allegheny claimed the coveted No. 3 position with 944 points, followed by Wooster (857) and Wittenberg (792).
While the men shined brightest as a team, the women enjoyed the strongest individual performance as freshman Molly Gustafson (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) broke a school record in the 200-yard breaststroke. She finished fourth in a time of 2:25.07, just missing her third NCAA B Cut of the meet.
Elsewhere among the Tiger women, junior Rachel Lee (Hickory, NC/Hickory) was the team's top finisher in the 200-yard backstroke, placing 11th, just ahead of freshman Sarah Wilson (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe) in 12th and freshman Courtney Carani (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) in 14th. Sophomore Ward McNulty (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) led the Tigers in 13th place in the 100-yard freestyle, freshman Claire Kozlowski (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) was strong in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 10th-place finish, followed closely by junior Megan Tassone (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline) in 11th.
Rounding things out, junior Keaton Hannon (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) was the Tigers' top finisher in the 200-yard butterfly in 13th place, followed closely by sophomore Jane Tsivitse (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming) in 14th.
For the men, the top individual finish in the pool was turned in by senior Chris Culkin (Novi, Mich./Northville), who touched the wall in ninth place in the 1650-yard freestyle. Right behind him was sophomore Blake Bosworth (Grandville, Mich./Grandville) in 11th. In the 1-meter diving competition, junior Gus Appenbrink (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) placed fifth.
Three Wittenberg swimmers placed 14th in their respective events — senior Zachary Stewart (Vincennes, Ind./Lincoln) in the 100-yard freestyle, senior Phil Bambach (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) in the 200-yard breaststroke and senior Conor O'Rourke (Mendham, NJ/The Canterbury School) in the 200-yard butterfly.