Adeline Brym
CANTON, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers had a day of mixed results to open the 2008 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Swimming and Diving Championships. When the pool waters had finally calmed, the Tigers found themselves in fifth place on the men's side and seventh on the women's.
While the overall team finishes were certainly not what the Tigers had hoped for, several individuals shined. That included a trio of NCAA B Cuts and a school record finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Two of the B cuts came in the 500-yard freestyle event. For the men, the story was sophomore Neil Anderson (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood), who placed fifth overall with a finals time of 4:40.10. That came after he reached an NCAA B Cut for a second straight year in the preliminary heat with a time of 4:39.40.
In addition, Anderson's time broke a 21-year-old school record. Paul Sutter, a 2006 Wittenberg Athletics Hall of Honor inductee, had held the mark since 1987.
On the women's side, sophomore Adeline Brym (Mansfield, Ohio/Senior) had a big night with a B Cut in the same event. Like Anderson, Brym was relegated to fifth place thanks to the NCAC's loaded field, but her time of 5:07.41 in the finals made her a national meet provisional qualifier for a second consecutive season.
Brym was also part of the 200 free relay quartet that just missed All-NCAC honors with a fourth-place finish, but still managed a school-record time of 1:39.16. That time was less than one second off the NCAA B Cut in the event. Brym was joined on the relay by sophomores Janna House (St. Thomas, Ontario/Central Elgin), Emily Ellermann (Littleton, Colo./Littleton) and Kristin Elber (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick). However, the day ended on a down note as the Tigers' 400-yard medley relay was disqualified after finishing third in the preliminary round.
Rounding out the Wittenberg highlights on Day 1 was an individual NCAA B Cut time in the 100-yard backstroke for sophomore Taylor Smith (Mansfield, Ohio/Senior). Smith led off the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 51.98 to reach the qualifying standard. Along with teammates freshman Adam Schick (Bloomington, Ind./North), freshman Conor O'Rourke (Mendham, NJ/The Canterbury School) and senior Brian Harris (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg), Smith and the relay took fifth place.