Alex Berger
The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams
weren't able to slay the dragons of the North Coast Athletic
Conference at last week's championship meet. But the Tigers still
turned in an outstanding performance in finishing fifth in the
men's competition and fourth in the women's.
Head Coach Leslie Ramsey was rewarded for her
efforts with an NCAC Coach of the Year award in the women's
division.
Steve Rader
While the Tiger men had a lower team finish, they had more
All-NCAC finishes. Wittenberg, which actually finished ahead of
Wooster and Wabash in the swimming events but lost too many points
in the diving competition, placed five athletes on the
all-conference rolls (top three in any event). The leader, as
expected, was junior Steve Rader (Concord, Ohio/Cleveland
St. Ignatius), who finished second in the 200-yard
Individual Medley. The conference champion in the event a year ago
because the eventual national champion from Kenyon chose to swim
other events, Rader actually finished with a better time (1:54.11)
in 2003 and made an NCAA B cut. Ramsey says his time is almost
certain to stand up and qualify Rader for the national meet next
month in Atlanta, Ga.
Three men's relays took top-three finishes, accounting for the
other four individuals who made all-conference. In the 200
freestyle relay, the quartet of Rader, junior Scott Olmsted
(Castle Rock, Colo./Cherry Creek), junior Alex
Berger (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay) and junior Matt
Werbach (Painesville, Ohio/Hawken) finished third in a
time of 1:27.10. In the 400 medley relay, Rader, Berger, Werbach
and junior Jonathan Newcomer (Valencia, Pa./Mars
Area) finished third in a time of 3:35.00. And rounding
things out, the 200 medley relay foursome of Werbach, Berger, Rader
and Olmsted claimed third-place finish in a time of 1:36.40.
Considering that the NCAC is the best and deepest swimming
conference in NCAA Division III, top eight finishes are very
strong. Rader turned in a fifth place finish in the 100 butterfly
in a time of 51.00 and a fourth in the 200 fly with an NCAA B cut
time of 1:53.19. Berger made the first NCAA B cut of his career
with a time of 59.04 in the 100 breaststroke, which was good for
sixth place. Berger also finished eighth in the 200 breast with a
time of 2:10.63. And junior diver Colin Donegan (Darien,
Conn./Darien) finished eighth in the diving
competition.
On the women's side, freshman Rebecca Searcy (Shelbyville,
Ky./Shelby County Bloomington) was again a great story,
but so were several of her classmates. Searcy, already with three
NCAA B cuts to her credit, improved her times in the 500 free, 1650
free and 400 IM and is now a near lock to compete in the national
meet next month. She finished fifth in the 500 free with a time of
5:07.37, fourth in the 1650 free in 17:39.54 and third in the 400
IM in 4:36.63. The latter time was a school record and earned
Searcy her first All-NCAC honor.
Freshman Betany Yeakley (Wilmington,
Ohio/Wilmington) finished eighth in the 200 IM in 2:13.57,
sixth in the 100 backstroke in an NCAA B cut time of 1:00.39 and
fourth in the 200 back with an NCAA B cut time of 2:10.34. In
addition, freshman Amy Conner (Noblesville,
Ind./Noblesville) provided some strong team points with a
sixth-place finish in the 200 breast in a time of 2:29.19. That
time was just a fraction of a second off the NCAA B cutoff.
Rounding things out for the Tiger women were freshman
Leslie Banas (Huntington Woods, Mich./Mercy) with
a seventh-place finish in the 1650 free with a personal-best time
of 18:13.00 and sophomore Catherine Gray (Ft. Thomas,
Ky./Highlands), who was the second women's competitor to
claim All-NCAC honors with a third-place finish in the three-meter
diving.
Several Tiger swimmers, including Berger, Conner and Yeakley, are
considering swimming one final regular season meet this weekend at
Case Western Reserve. Those three have times that tentatively
qualify for the national meet, and improving on those marks could
make the difference.
Next: 2/22 at Case Western