Season in Review

The 2005-06 men's and women's swimming and diving teams recorded one of the best seasons in school history.

April 1, 2006

Setting the Scene:

The 2005-06 men's and women's swimming and diving teams recorded one of the best seasons in school history.

The Tigers continued to improve under the direction of second-year head coach Natalie Koukis. The men returned 14 letterwinners (three seniors, eight juniors and three sophomores) from the 2004-05 season; the women also returned 14 letter winners (five seniors, six juniors, and three sophomores). Thanks to the leadership of those returning letterwinners and some fine performances from a strong freshman class, the women posted one of the best records in school history with a record of 10-3 in dual meet action, while the men finished a deceiving (considering a very strong schedule) 5-9 mark in duals.

More importantly, the Tigers moved up in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings.

National Finishes:

Senior Becca Searcy (Shelbyville, Ky./Shelby County) closed out her tremendous Wittenberg career with a flourish at the NCAA Division III Championship Meet March 9-11 in Minneapolis, Minn. Searcy recorded her best finish ever in four consecutive trips to the national meet, posting an eighth-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle, good for her first career All-America honor.

In addition, Searcy placed 16th in the 500-yard freestyle, which gave her the sixth honorable mention All-America award of her illustrious career.

Conference Finishes:

The women placed third at the NCAC meet - breaking a lengthy streak of fourth and fifth place finishes - to mark the best finish for either the Tiger men or women since Wittenberg joined the NCAC in 1989. The men placed fifth at the conference meet, up one spot from their 2005 finish.

Searcy capped off a stellar NCAC career by placing second in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:20.25. She also finished fourth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:07.69. Both times were good for automatic bids into the national championship meet.

Matt Reiss

Searcy was also apart of two of the three relay teams that broke school records during conference meet action. Along with Searcy, seniorBetany Yeakley (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington), sophomore Lindsay Smith (Mount Vernon, Ohio/Mount Vernon) and sophomoreKaitlin Clark (Wakeman, Ohio/Firelands) turned in a third-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay, finishing in a time of 7:55.59, breaking a five-year-old school record. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Yeakley, Smith, freshmanJenny Riehle (Enon, Ohio/Greenon) and juniorColleen Costigan (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) finished in a time of 1:39.53, good for a fourth place finish. The 400-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Searcy, Yeakley, Smith and Riehle finished in a time of 3:37.37 which was also good for a fourth place finish and a new school record.

Sophomore diver Courtney Roth (Gurnee, Ill./Lake Forest) took home Wittenberg's biggest individual award in the meet - NCAC Diver of the Year. She took home a second-place finish in the 1-meter event and a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter event.

The Tiger men were also led by a div as junior Cody Nicely (Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden) placed third in the 1-meter - his fourth All-NCAC conference honor - and sixth in the 3-meter. His point total of 384.64 in the 1-meter broke a 15-year old school record.

In the pool, the Tigers were paced by strong finishes from sophomore Ryan Schramm (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon), who recorded the highest finish of any individual male swimmer with a fifth place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle. Freshman Chris Banas (Huntington Woods, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central)finished eighth in that event as well. Ryan Schramm recorded a ninth place finish in the 400 Individual Medley; his brother Corey Schramm (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) finished just behind him in 10th place.

Junior Matt Reiss (Beavercreek, Ohio/Dayton Carroll) turned in an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard breastroke, a ninth-place finish in the 200-yard breastroke and was also an integral part of the 200-yard medley relay and the 400-yard medley relay, both of which placed fourth.

Along with Reiss, sophomore Nick Pierson (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central), junior Sean Wolf (White Lake, Mich./Walled Lake Central) and sophomore Brian Harris (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) were members of the aforementioned relay finishes.

Amy Conner

Wolf and Harris were also a part of the 200-yard freestyle relay that captured fifth place in a time of 1:27.6. They were joined by sophomoreJeff Smith (Mansfield, Ohio/Senior), and freshmanMike Finlay (Marietta, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain).

Finally, the 400-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Wolf, Finlay, Harris, and senior Dan McGuire (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) posted a time of 3:15.68, which was good for a seventh-place finish.

The Coach:

Natalie Koukis (Ohio Wesleyan '99) completed her second year as head coach of the Tiger's swimming and diving teams. She took over as head coach of the Tigers in July 2004, coming from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass., where she led WPI to their best finishes in school history.

Since her arrival at Wittenberg the swimming and diving teams have improved in each of her two years. In 2006 the Tiger women finished with the best finish in school history. The Tiger men improved their standing from a year ago in the ultra competitive NCAC. Koukis was awarded NCAC Coach of the Year honors in 2006 for the resounding success the Tigers enjoyed during the 2005-06 season. Under her direction, the Tigers have broken nearly a dozen school records and have placed 10 student-athletes on the All-NCAC honor rolls.