BUFFALO, NY - Even the weather couldn't cool off the Wittenberg University men's and women's swimming & diving teams in March. The Tigers capped one of the best seasons in school history by scoring 36 points in the womens NCAA Division III meet March 8-10 and 34 points in the men's NCAA Division III meet March 15-17.
With more swimmers qualified for the national meet than ever before, the womens team made the trip first in hopes of continuing the season-long trend of school records and unprecedented accomplishments. The mission was accomplished, led by juniorRachel Juergens (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central), who earned All-America honors and set three more school records in leading the team to a 21st-place finish.
Juergens broke school records throughout the season and qualified for her first national championship meet in multiple events. Her best finish at the NCAA meet was a fifth-place swim in the 1650-yard freestyle. Her school-record time of 17:13.26 was good for All-American honors, her first as a collegian, and she set an additional school record during the race with a 10:21.65 in the first 1000 meters.
In addition, Juergens finished 10th in the 500 free, breaking the school record by four seconds with a time of 5:01.36. The finish was good for honorable mention All-American honors.
The men's team, also carrying a school-best four members to the NCAA meet, followed a week later and again the Tigers didn't disappoint. Senior Aaron Edsall(Circleville, Ohio/Circleville) concluded his career by becoming just the second swimmer in school history to earn All-America honors for four consecutive years. He joins Julien Lazarus, who swam from 1995-99 and recorded the best finish in school history with a second in the 100 breaststroke.
One of two Tiger swimmers to win individual North Coast Athletic Conference titles in February, Edsall finished eighth in the 100 backstroke in a time of 51.36, which was less than a second off his school record time. It was his second straight eighth place finish in the event at the NCAA meet.
Edsall also claimed a pair of honorable mention All-America awards as part of two record-setting relays. The 400 medley relay foursome of freshman Steve Rader(Concord, Ohio/St. Ignatius), junior Bob Rafferty (Mt. Vernon, Ohio/Mt. Vernon), juniorJeremy Lazarus (Moens, France/Ferney-Voltaire) and Edsall finished 10th at the NCAA meet in a school-record time of 3:27.28. Head Coach Bob Rueppel noted in particular Rader's performance in the butterfly leg as he turned in a split time of 50.20.
Then in the 200 medley relay, the same quartet of Tiger swimmers posted a school-record time of 1:35.39. That was good for 13th place and honorable mention All-America honors. Rueppel noted the freestyle split time of 21.04 turned in by Rafferty and the breaststroke split time of 26.14 by Lazarus as the keys to that finish.
Rounding out the men's NCAA performance, Lazarus missed the finals in the 100 breaststroke by the slimmest of margins while the 400 free relay was also a top alternate after just missing the 16-team cut.
Rounding out the women's side, junior Melissa Beck (Williamsville, NY/Carmel) also earned honorable mention All-America. She finished 13th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.22. In her other individual event, Beck finished the 50 free in a school-best 24.94.
Two women's relays swam well enough to qualify for honorable mention All-America status. The 200 medley relay finished 13th and the 400 medley relay wound up 15th. Senior Melanie Edsall (Circleville, Ohio/Circleville) and junior Paula Hauser (Mason, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame), who also swam in individual events but didn't place, joined Juergens and Beck on the relays. Hauser's best finish in her two individual events was in the 200 breaststroke, in which she finished 17th and missed out on the finals by a narrow margin.
Rueppel, who earlier claimed NCAC Coach of the Year honors for both men's and women's swimming and diving, was particularly pleased with the performance of the relays. "It's very difficult to go to that meet with relays and swim faster than the time you qualified with," he said. "But that's what our relays did."
The team's performance at the NCAA meets came on the heels of Wittenberg's exciting finishes at the NCAC Championships a month earlier in Canton, Ohio. The women's team, which finished 7-4 in dual meets, scored the most points in school history to finish fourth behind 17-time conference champion Kenyon, eventual national champion Denison and Wooster, which wound up 10th in the NCAA meet. The men's team, which was 7-4 in dual meets, also scored more points than ever before in finishing fourth behind eventual national champ Kenyon, Denison, which wound up fifth in the nation, and Wabash.
"This was our most successful season since I came here," said Rueppel, who in six years has coached half of the All-Americans in Wittenberg's history. "It's a very special group of people who set out to achieve some lofty goals this season. And they exceeded them in the end, which makes me very proud."