Tigers Shine Bright at Transylvania

LEXINGTON, Kentucky—Wittenberg swimming and diving had a productive weekend at Transylvania, as the men's and women's teams both defeated Transylvania and Wilmington. The Tigers strong showing came with many great overall performances on both sides, as the Tigers took down OAC foe Wilmington and HCAC member Transylvania.

"I was very pleased with the way we competed today. We came out ready to perform. They kept the intensity up from the very first event until the last. This team has shown for two weekends in a row how tough they are. We had a lot of fun today. Several people stepped up their performance today by swimming events that they normally don't compete in. We called upon them and they didn't let us down," said Coach Bernhardt.

The 200-yard medley team of Joy Longley, Annelise Gibson, Marita Banta-Long and Elissa Manchester started the scoring for the Tigers, taking first with a finals time of 1:58.63. The men's 200-yard medley relay team did the same, as Paul Salay, Kyle Smith, Trey Gregory and Bradley Barren took first with a finals time of 1:43.01.

Wittenberg claimed the top-two spots in the women's 1000 free, as Morgan Seifert touched the wall first at 11:48.60, with Lauren Ruddy taking second at 11:49.35.  In the men's 1000 free, Sam Bott claimed first at 11:01.26, and Hunter Busken in second at 11:17.33.

Hawk Smith got in on the scoring for the Tigers in the men's 200-yard free, coming in second place for the Tigers after touching the wall at 1:54.06.

In the women's 100-yard free, the Tigers saw another duo take first and second, as Longley finished in first at 1:05.93 and Ashley O'Neil at 1:09.58. In the ninth event of the meet, Gibson scored more points for Wittenberg, taking second in the 100-yard breast at 1:15.62. In the men's 100 yard brest, the Tigers also claimed another second-place finish as freshman Rowan Moore finished the finals at 1:03.35.

In the women's 200-yard fly, Kelsey Gregory claimed first place points for the Tigers, finishing six seconds ahead of the next closest swimmer at 2:28.61. Gregory claimed first in the men's 200-yard fly, finishing eight seconds ahead of the next closest swimmer at 2:06.62.

Banta-Long capped off her impressive meet with a second-place finish in the 50-yard free at 26.69, .19 seconds off of a first-place finish. Banta-Long also went on to take a first place finishi in the 100-yard fly at 1:04.85 seconds. On the men's side, Brad Barren took home first in the finals heat of the 50-yard free, as the sophomore touched the wall in 22.62 seconds.

In the 100-yard free, the Tigers yet again scored first place points as Manchester took home first place a full-second ahead of the next closest competitor at 58.31 seconds. On the men's side, Salay finished two seconds off of first with a finals time of 50.72, good enough for second place.

The 200-yard backstroke was also good to the Tigers, as O'Neil finished in second on the women's side at 2:28.76 and Busken in first on the men's side at 2:10.04, three seconds ahead of the competition.

Gregory capped off the meet for the Tigers with a first place finish in the 100-yard fly at 54.91 seconds.