Zach Stewart
CANTON, Ohio — The second day of the 2011 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Swimming and Diving Championships featured several outstanding individual performances as both the men's and women's teams remained within striking distance of a coveted third-place finish.
The Tiger men dropped from third to fifth out of nine teams in the final Day 2 standings, checking in just six points ahead of sixth-place Oberlin. Wittenberg's 432 points trail Denison (1171), Kenyon (1049), Wooster (493) and Wabash (489.5).
The Tiger women held steady in fourth place in the eight-team field after Day 2. Denison leads the women's standings with 1338 points, followed by Kenyon (975), Allegheny (628) and Wittenberg (563).
The most significant individual highlights came from the women's team, which kicked things off in the best possible way with a school record time of 1:47.02 in the 200-yard medley relay. The third-place finish by the quartet of freshman Sarah Wilson (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe), freshman Molly Gustafson (West Hartford, Conn./Conard), junior Keaton Hannon (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) and sophomore Ward McNulty (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) was good for All-NCAC honors and an NCAA B Cut.
Gustafson capped her day with a another All-NCAC finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Her time of 1:06.07 was slightly off her school record pace established two weeks earlier in a dual meet at Kenyon, but it was plenty for third place in the race. She was followed by a trio of Tigers who placed in the top 16 after the B-final race, led by junior Megan Tassone (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline) in 10th place.
Wilson added an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, Hannon added a 10th-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, and a pair of Tigers turned in top-10 performances in the 3-meter diving competition. Senior Megan Shubitowski (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) placed fourth, while freshman Katherine Reed (Cincinnati, Ohio/Northwest) finished 10th.
For the men, the top finisher was senior Zachary Stewart (Vincennes, Ind./Lincoln), who turned in an 11th-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Not far behind was senior Conor O'Rourke (Mendham, NJ/The Canterbury School), who placed 12th in the 100-yard butterfly.