Tiger Swimming and Diving Shows Well at NCAC Championships

GRANVILLE, Ohio—Wittenberg swimming and diving competed in the four-day NCAC Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by Denison this past week. First year coach Will Bernhardt has been process oriented since stepping foot on campus in the Summer of 2016, and the NCAC championship helped show the fruits of he and his team's labors. While Denison nabbed their ninth straight NCAC title on the men's side, and their ninth NCAC title overall on the women's side, Wittenberg held their own in the four-day championship. When the dust settled, the women finished in seventh with 670 points, and the men in ninth with 463 points.

WOMEN'S HIGHLIGHTS

• Senior Amy Schulz earned two fifth place finishes, first in the 100 yard-breaststroke at 1:05.74, and then again in the 200 yard-breaststroke at 2:29.05.  
• Schulz narrowly missed earning a NCAA B Cut in the 100 yard-breaststroke by a second.  
• Schulz also contributed to a fourth place finish for the Tigers in the 200-yard medley-relay, as Joy Longley, Samantha Petruzzi and Marita Banta-Long rounded out the team that finished in 1:49.68.
• In the 200 yard-butterfly, Petruzzi finished in sixth place at 2:10.34.
• The 400 yard-freestyle relay team of Emalie Taylor, Elissa Manchester, Schulz and Banta-Long came in seventh in the finals for the Tigers with a time of 3:40.01.
• In the 800 yard-freestyle relay, Wittenberg earned another seventh place finish, as the team of Taylor, Manchester, Petruzzi and Banta-Long recorded a finals time of 8:05.74.
• Rounding out the Tigers championship was the 200-yard freestyle-relay team of Taylor, Schulz, Manchester and Banta-Long, who recorded another seventh place finish in the finals at 1:40.73.

MEN'S HIGHLIGHTS

• Individually, Paul Salay recorded a seventh place finish in the 100 yard-IM, with a finals time of 55.27 seconds.
• The 400 yard-freestyle relay team of Salay, Brad Barren, Hawk Smith and Kyle Smith earned the Tigers a seventh place finish at 3:13.99.
• Kyle Smith, Patrick Rittenhouse, Hawk Smith and Barren finished in eigth in the 200 yard-freestyle at 1:27.76.
• Sam Bott rounded out the Tigers week with a ninth place finish in the 1650 yard-freestyle at 16:43.04.

FROM THE POOLDECK

I was very proud of the way our team performed this weekend. Our Seniors stepped up and led by example. I cannot be prouder of the group we had at the Conference Championship. We may have only had 13 Men and 15 Women on the scoring team (out of 18 possible) but each of them competed with passion and energy to do the best they could for Witt. It was an honor leading them this season.

We created opportunities for ourselves to have chances to swim in finals. In finals we made the most out of those opportunities. We had many individuals earn finals swims for the first time in their careers. This was exciting to see and gives us a great base for next year.

I also believe that as a team we gained an identity this weekend. It took us all season but there was a different feeling on deck and around the team this weekend. We are making progress as a team and building towards next season.   

Coach Bernhardt