The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams took on a pair of NCAC rivals last weekend and came away with good results in each instance, despite a loss Friday night at Wabash for the men's team. The Tigers dropped a 135.5-107.5 decision to the Little Giants, but the men and women came back home on Saturday to post solid wins over Oberlin, 133-83 for the women and 128-75 for the men.

In the meet against Wabash, one of the Tigers' main rivals for a position in the upper echelon of the NCAC standings in the February championship meet, senior Steve Rader (Concord, Ohio/St. Ignatius) took first place in the 1000-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly. He was joined in the winners' circle by senior Kyle Dunaway (Warren, Ohio/Howland) in the 200-yard Individual Medley, freshman Cody Nicely (Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden) in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, and senior Alex Berger (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay) in the 100-yard freestyle.

Head Coach Leslie Ramsey described the meet as a positive one for early in the season on the road, with several outstanding individual performances, but she indicated that the team has some growing left to do to reach its goals. Other fine swims were turned in by sophomore Kevin McAninch (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Lancaster), junior Blake Troxel (Norwell, Ind./Bluffton) and freshman Matt Reiss (Beavercreek, Ohio/Dayton Carroll), all of whom posted season-best times in certain events.

In the Oberlin meet, Rader was again a two-time individual winner, this time touching first in the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly events. Dunaway was a two-event winner in the 400-yard IM and the 200-yard backstroke, while Troxel, Berger and Nicely also claimed first-place finishes.

On the women's side, the story was sophomore Becca Searcy (Shelbyville, Ky./Shelby County), who earned an NCAA 'B' Cut time of 4:40.41 in winning the 400-yard IM. It was one of two firsts she had on the day, the other coming in the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Jenny Mulligan (Cheyney, Pa./Delaware Valley Friends) posted a victory in the 200-yard breaststroke, sophomore Betany Yeakley (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington) took a pair of firsts in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke and freshman Katie Spittler (Carlisle, Ky./Lexington Catholic) and sophomore Leslie Banas (Huntington Woods, Mich./Mercy) took the top two spots in the 1000-yard freestyle with strong season-best times.

Ramsey was pleased with the performances against Oberlin and indicated the teams are now ahead of their oustanding pace of 2002-03. The next test is this Saturday at Hiram, followed by two weeks away from competition and then the annual DePauw Invitational Dec. 5-6.

Next: 11/22 at Hiram, 1 p.m.