SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Little more than 12 hours after turning in a solid performance against one of the best teams in NCAA Division III at Denison on Friday, the Wittenberg Tigers returned home and put together a dominating sweep of visiting Hiram. The Tiger men picked up a 171-116 victory, while the Tiger women captured a 157-96 win.
The wins moved the Tigers' dual meet records to 6-3 for the men and 6-2 for the women, heading into the final two weeks of the 2008-09 regular season. After the home finale Jan. 23 against Centre College, the Tigers put the finishing touches on the campaign at perennial national champion Kenyon on Jan. 30.
On the women's side, junior Adeline Brym (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington) led the way with three individual victories, coming in the 50 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 200 Individual Medley. Also of note was the performance of junior Kristin Elber (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick), who swam on the winning 200 free and 200 medley relays and added individual victories in the 50 and 100 freestyle events, junior Janna House (St. Thomas, Ontario/Central Elgin Collegiate Institute), who won the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle, freshman Keaton Hannon (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh), who touched first in the 50 butterfly and 200 freestyle, and sophomore Megan Shubitowski (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson), tops in both diving events.
Rounding things out for the women were freshman Megan Tassone (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline) with a win in the 50 breaststroke and freshman Cecilia Wille (Knoxville, Tenn./Farragut) with a first in the 500 freestyle. Elber was joined by freshman Sinjin McNicholl (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis), House and Wille on the winning 200 free relay, and she was picked up by Hannon, Tassone and freshman Rachel Lee (Hickory, N.C./Hickory) in the 200 medley relay.
For the men, Wittenberg was paced by sophomore Matt Higbee (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) with firsts in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke while also swimming on the winning 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays, and junior Neil Anderson (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood), who turned in first-place finishes in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle and also swam a leg on the 200 medley relay.
Seven other Tigers won or finished with the best time in an event: freshman Mickey Murphy (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) in the 1000 freestyle, sophomore Zach Stewart (Vincennes, Ind./Lincoln) in the 100 butterfly, senior Andy Bates (Lawrenceburg, Ind./East Central) in the 50 freestyle, freshman Gus Appenbrink (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) in the 1-meter diving, sophomore Chris Culkin (Novi, Mich./Northville) in the 500 breaststroke, sophomore Colin O'Rourke (Mendham, N.J./Canterbury School) in the 50 butterfly and junior Matt Erenpreiss (Columbus, Ohio/Centennial) in the 3-meter diving. Other members of the winning relays were sophomore Adam Schick (Bloomington, Ind./North) and junior Taylor Smith (Mansfield, Ohio/Senior) teaming up with Higbee and Anderson in the 200 medley and Stewart, Bates and junior Bobby Ritzi (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) with Higbee in the 200 freestyle.