SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg swimming & diving teams hosted fellow Tiger-monikered DePauw University on Saturday, and the Wittenberg women extended a season-opening winning streak to three straight dual meets with a close 152-146 victory while the men fell to 2-1 by a score of 178-116.
The DePauw women gave Wittenberg everything it could handle, charging back from a 135-111 deficit following the 100 butterfly. After strong showings in the 3-meter diving and 200 individual medley events, DePauw had climbed back within one point at 141-140. Wittenberg's 200 freestyle relay A-team was up to the task, though, and captured first place by five-tenths of a second to hold the visitors off and take a narrow six-point final lead.
The final win came on an outstanding 24.69 third leg by junior Ward McNulty (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier), the best individual leg of the event, and strong legs from her team members, including freshman Logan Griffith (Pickerington, Ohio/North), senior Sinjin McNicholl (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) and junior Jane Tsivitse (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming).
The women started the meet strong with a win in Event No. 1, the 200 medley relay, on solid performances by sophomore Sarah Wilson (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe), sophomore Molly Gustafson (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) and senior Keaton Hannon (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) before McNulty closed it out with a 25.06 on the anchor leg, again providing the best individual leg in the event.
Junior Jane Tsivitse (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming) followed up with a win in the 500 freestyle on a time of 2:01.33 before Gustafson edged out the competition with a 1:07.31 victory in the 100 breaststroke. Hannon grabbed first place in the 200 butterfly on a time of 2:17.52, leading to a 25.77 win for McNulty in the 50 free.
Tsivitse tacked on a victory in the 100 freestyle with a time of 56.09 before sophomore Courtney Carani (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) cruised to first in the 200 backstroke. Gustafson won the 200 breaststroke (2:29.36) and Tsivitse grabbed her third individual win in the 100 butterfly (1:00.07), setting up the thrilling chase to the finish.
On the men's side, freshman AJ Burt (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming) was Wittenberg's first event winner, taking the 100 breaststroke on a time of 1:00.94. Senior Gus Appenbrink (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) won the 1-meter diving by nearly 80 points with a score of 232.90 before senior Ted Hutchinson (Sudbury, Mass/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) won the 100 backstroke.
Burt added a win in the 200 breaststroke on a time of 2:13.59, followed by Appenbrink's 241.75 in the 3-meter diving, good for first place and a sweep of the men's diving events. Burt followed up with his third win of the day, this time in the 400 individual medley, nearly 13 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor at 4:17.82.
Wittenberg is back in the pool next Saturday, Nov. 12, in a double meet at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., against the host Pioneers and the Wilmington College Quakers.