SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers secured a dual meet split with visiting Ohio Northern as the women won 178-121 and the men dropped a 184-116 decision.
The win pushed Wittenberg's women's record to 4-1. Wittenberg's men fell to 2-3 in dual meets.
Individually, Wittenberg's women took the top spot in 11 of 16 events, culminating with a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. In that event, the Tiger quartet of senior Erica Precht (Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon), senior Margaret White (Westfield, Ind./Westfield), junior Emalie Taylor (Ann Arbor, Mich./Dexter) and senior Dani Lacy (Louisville, Ky./Louisville Collegiate School) touched the wall three seconds ahead of the competition.
The Tigers had a trio of double winners in individual events, starting with sophomore Kaitlyn Black (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) with first-place finishes in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving by a pair of wide margins. Lacy led the way in the 200-yard and 100-yard freestyle events, and sophomore Samantha Petruzzi (Medina, Ohio/Medina) was tops in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly races.
Also touching the wall first for the Red & White were sophomore Nikki McCollum (Fort Myers, Fla./Estero) in the 1000-yard freestyle, junior Amy Schulz (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) in the 100-yard breaststroke, senior Madeline Kraft (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) in the 200-yard breaststroke, and White in the 500-yard freestyle.
On the men's side, freshman Sam Bott (Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling) was a double-winner with firsts in the 1000-yard and 500-yard freestyle races. Also topping the field in their events were freshman Willie Smith (Goldsboro, NC/Eastern Wayne) in the 1-meter diving and senior Steve Stuthers (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) in the 200-yard backstroke.
Wittenberg also scored big points in both relays with second-place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. In the medley relay, freshman Paul Salay (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South), sophomore Kyle Smith (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro), Stuthers and junior Nick Rittenhouse (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) took runner-up honors, and in the freestyle relay Salay, Smith, senior Sean Oberschlake (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) and Rittenhouse placed second.
Written By: Ryan Maurer