GAMBIER, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers put the finishing touches on the 2010-11 dual meet season with a solid performance at Kenyon College. The Tiger men dropped a hard-fought 137-100 decision, while the Tiger women fell by a final score of 162-79.
The losses dropped the Tiger men to 9-4 overall and the Tiger women to 8-5 overall, heading into a two-week break before the annual North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship meet at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio, from Feb. 10-12. Kenyon's teams are among the favorites again in 2011, with the men hoping to extend their 30-year national championship streak at the NCAA Division III Championships in March.
While the Tigers were overmatched as a team on the women's side, freshman Molly Gustafson (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) provided the day's biggest Red & White highlight. She topped the field in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in a time of 1:05.30, which met the NCAA provisional qualifying standard and set the school record in the event, previously held by junior teammate Megan Tassone (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline) at 1:06.46.
She wasn't the only Wittenberg woman to claim a first-place finish. Junior Keaton Hannon (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) claimed the top spot in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.94, and senior Megan Shubitowski (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) added a win in the 3-meter diving to go along with a second-place finish in the 1-meter event. In addition, the Tigers' 200-yard freestyle relay quartet of junior Sinjin McNicholl (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis), senior Rachel Lee (Hickory, N.C./Hickory), junior Jane Tsivitse (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming) and sophomore Ward McNulty (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) took the top spot.
On the men's side, senior Chris Culkin (Novi, Mich./Northville) led the way with a strong performances and first-place finishes in both the 500-yard and 1000-yard freestyle competitions. In addition, junior Gus Appenrbrink (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) was victorious in both diving events.