LEXINGTON, Kentucky—Wittenberg swimming and diving competed at the University of Kentucky over the weekend, as Transylvania hosted their annual invitational. Both programs combined for 620 points on the weekend, good enough for fifth place overall, as the women finished in fifth out of seven teams, and the men in fifth out of six teams.
Wittenberg showed well across the board, building on their recent success against Ohio Northern back in November. The midseason point for the Tigers came against some of the better non-conference competition the Tigers will see all year.
Sam Bott finished the 400 yard IM finals in 4:31.40 for Wittenberg, claiming seventh place in the finals heat. Also finishing in the top eight in a finals heat was Samantha Petruzzi who came in third place in the 100 yard butterfly, touching the wall at 1:00.14. Petruzzi qualified for the finals after finishing first in the prelims at 1:00.03.
In the women's 1650 freestyle, the Tigers were well represented by Morgan Seifert who finished in fifth place at 18:59.56, and Lauren Ruddy in eighth place at 19:32.33. In the same event on the men's side, Bott continued his consistency in distance events, taking home fourth with a finals heat of 17:10.76.
Marita Banta-Long also scored for the Tigers, claiming sixth place in the women's 500-yard freestyle with a finals time of 5:28.33. Seifert came in eighth in the event, touching the wall at 5:40.83.
Annelise Gibson also scored for Wittenberg, grabbing 12 points for the Tigers with a seventh-place finish in the 100 yard breastroke at 1:11.27. The Tigers also saw points come from the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Petruzzi, Ruddy, Elissa Manchester and Banta-Long, coming in fourth at 8:22.51. On the men's side, Bott, Drew Suffoletta, Nick Angeli and Hawk Smith took home fifth in the 800-yard freestyle with a finals heat of 7:32.98.
The men's program went on to score again in the 200-yard medley relay, as Connor Flanagan, Kyle Smith, Trey Gregory and Bradley Barren came in fourth place with a finals time of 1:40.02.
Wittenberg is back in action on January 6 against Indiana State and Wabash at Terra Haute, Indiana.