CANTON, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams rounded out the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championships more school records and NCAA B Cut performances. When the waters had finally calmed, the Tiger women had placed fifth and the men seventh.
The Tiger women ended up with 805 points to lose out on a weeklong, three-way battle for third place. Denison topped the field, followed by Kenyon. Wooster then claimed the No. 3 position, followed by DePauw, which finished 72 points ahead of the Tigers after trailing them the previous two days.
The Tiger men moved up a spot on Day 3. After finishing eighth each of the first two days, Wittenberg wound up with 511 points, just 14 behind Oberlin for sixth place in the final standings, which were headed by Denison, Kenyon and DePauw — three of the top 10 teams in the current national rankings.
The highlights of the day were provided near the meet's conclusion. Tiger swimmers and divers broke 11 school records during the week, with seven of those performances also exceeding NCAA provisional qualifying standards.
The final event of the day featured a school record swim by the quartet of senior Rachel Lee (Hickory, NC/Hickory), senior Sinjin McNicholl (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis), junior Ward McNulty (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) and junior Jane Tsivitse (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming) in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Just moments later, sophomore Sarah Wilson (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe) took part in a 100-yard backstroke time trial and broke through for a school record and NCAA B cut of her own.
The best finish of the day was supplied by sophomore Molly Gustafson (West Hartford, Conn./Conard), who touched the wall in fifth place in the 200-yard breaststroke. She was closely followed by senior Megan Tassone (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline) in sixth place.
Rounding out the top women's performances for the day, junior Claire Shannon (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) placed 10th in the 1650-yard freestyle, senior Keaton Hannon (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) took 12th in the 200-yard butterfly, Tsivitse claimed 12th in the 100-yard freestyle and McNicholl placed 13th in the 100-yard freestyle.
The best finish for the Tiger men was supplied by senior Zach Stewart (Vincennes, Ind./Lincoln) in the 100-yard freestyle and sophomore Jack Ruble (Woodridge, Ill./Naperville) in the 200-yard butterfly. Both placed 12th.
Rounding things out, a pair of Tiger men excelled in the 200-yard breaststroke. Freshmen AJ Burt (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming) and James Dumstorf (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) placed 13th and 14th, respectively.