Natalie Koukis
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — It may not sound like much to those uninformed in the ways of NCAA Division III swimming and diving, but the one-place improvement by Wittenberg University's men's and women's teams in last week's North Coast Athletic Conference championship meet was significant.
The third-place finish by the Tiger women's team was the best since Wittenberg joined the NCAC in 1989 - in the process aligning itself with perennial powerhouse programs Denison and Kenyon. The Tigers broke a string of fourth and fifth places finishes with a tremendous team effort, according to Head Coach Natalie Koukis.
"This is exciting for many reasons, but mostly because the swimmers performed so well as a team," said Koukis, who is in her second season at the helm of both the men's and women's teams at Wittenberg. "Everybody put the team before themselves, and that's how we were able to accomplish so many great things at the conference meet."
Rebecca Searcy
While Koukis was rewarded for her efforts with NCAC Women's Coach of the Year honors, her accomplishments on the men's side may be just as noteworthy. She nearly guided a young Tigers squad from sixth place in 2005 to fourth place in 2006 as Wittenberg finished fifth with 754 points, just 42 behind Wooster. In a meet where thousands of points are awarded during the course of three long days of competition, 42 points is a very small margin.
The Tiger women not only performed well as a team, but several individuals made waves as well. Leading the charge was senior Becca Searcy (Shelbyville, Ky./Shelby County), who assured herself of a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III Championship meet with an All-NCAC performance (the top three finishers in each event earn All-NCAC honors). Searcy, who has five honorable mention All-America awards in her career, became just the third female Wittenberg swimmer to reach the national meet all four years of her career when she placed second in the 1,650-yard freestyle in a time of 17:20.75. The time was good for an automatic berth in next month's NCAA Division III Championship meet in Minneapolis, Minn.
Searcy also earned a provisional qualifying time in the 500-yard freestyle, placing fourth in a time of 5:07.69. In addition, Searcy placed ninth in the 400-yard Individual Medley.
Betany Yeakley
Searcy was also a part of two of the three Wittenberg relay teams that broke school records during the weekend. Searcy, senior Betany Yeakley (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington), sophomore Lindsay Smith (Mount Vernon, Ohio/Mount Vernon) and sophomore Kaitlin Clark (Wakeman, Ohio/Firelands) turned in an All-NCAC third-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay, touching the wall in 7:55.59 to break a five-year-old school record.
Courtney Roth
The 200-yard freestyle relay quartet of Yeakley, Smith, freshman Jenny Riehle (Enon, Ohio/Greenon) and junior Colleen Costigan (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) established a new university standard of 1:39.53 with a fourth-place finish. Finally, the 400-yard freestyle relay of Searcy, Yeakley, Smith and Riehle captured fourth place with a school-record time of 3:37.37. Yeakley capped her weekend with a pair of NCAA Division III provisional qualifying times in individual events. In placing seventh in the 100-yard backstroke, Yeakley turned in a time of 59.90, good for provisional national qualification. She took fifth place in the 200-yard backstroke with a provisional time of 2:09.6. Now with provisional qualification for the third straight year, Yeakley will attempt to lower her times at the Kenyon Invitational on Saturday in hopes of securing a position in the national meet for the first time in her collegiate career.
Not to be outdone, sophomore Courtney Roth (Gurnee, Ill./Lake Forest) put the finishing touches on a breakout season with NCAC Diver of the year honors. Roth finished second in the 1-meter diving competition to earn All-NCAC honors for the first time in her career, and she followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter event.
Cody Nicely
Finally, the Tiger men had several outstanding finishes in both relays and individual events, capped by an All-NCAC performance by junior Cody Nicely (Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden). The 2004 NCAC Diver of the Year, Nicely placed third in the 1-meter diving competition and sixth in the 3-meter event. The third-place finish in the 1-meter event was Nicely's fourth All-NCAC honor, and it came in most spectacular fashion as he shattered a 15-year-old school record with a score of 384.64.
Posted by: Ryan Maurer