SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams sent their seniors out on a high note with a pair of victories over Centre in the 2010-11 home dual meet finale.
Heading into their last dual of the campaign at perennial national power Kenyon on Jan. 29, the Tiger men improved to 9-3 with a 193-104 victory over Centre. The Tiger women took advantage of a significant edge in the diving events to pull out a 151-137 win over the Colonels.
Wittenberg claimed first-place finishes in 13 men's events to run away with the competition. Freshman Jon Drewsen (Fond du Lac, Wisc./Fond du Lac) led the way with two individual wins (100-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle) and two relay victories (200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay). Not to be oudone, junior Teddy Hutchinson (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) was a winner in the 100 and 200 backstroke events, and he also was a member of the winning 200 medley relay quartet.
Also on the men's side, sophomore Michael Garza (Dayton, Ohio/Hampton) won both breaststroke events, senior Chris Culkin (Novi, Mich./Northville) was a winner in the two distance freestyle events competed, sophomore JB Easley (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seven Hills) won the 200 free and was a member of the winning 200 free relay team, and junior Gus Appenbrink (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) claimed both diving events.
Wittenberg won seven events on the women's side, including a pair of firsts in the diving events from senior Megan Shubitowski (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson). Freshman Molly Gustafson (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) contributed victories in both breaststroke events and junior Keaton Hannon (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) chipped in both butterfly events. They were two of the four swimmers on the first-place 200 medley relay quartet.
Hutchinson and Culkin are two of eight seniors on the men's team who were celebrated. They were joined in mid-meet festivities by Phil Bambach (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome), Parker Browning (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin), Conor O'Rourke (Mendham, NJ/Canterbury School), Danny Nicholas (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central), Zach Stewart (Vincennes, Ind./Lincoln) and Adam Schick (Bloomington, Ind./North).
Shubitowski and Katie Sbrocco (Highland Heights, Ohio/Mayfield) are the lone seniors on the women's team.