Ada, Ohio- The Wittenberg University swimming & diving teams continued action on Friday night with a non-conference dual meet at Ohio Northern University. The Tigers dropped both ends of the dual meet with the women dropping a 135-88 decision against the Polar Bears and the men suffering a 141-82 defeat against ONU.
The Wittenberg men also accumulated five event victories in the dual meet against Ohio Northern, also rounding out the night with a win in the 400 free relay as the team of sophomore Trey Gregory, junior Nick Angeli, freshman Benjamin Hongell and junior Bradley Barren outpaced the field with a winning time of 3:22.74. Barren and Gregory also added individual event victories of their own on the night, with Barren touching first in the 50 free in 22.55 and Gregory crushing the field in the 200 fly with a winning time of 2:00.11. The final two first-place finishes for the men's squad were achieved by freshmen Anthony Petruzzi in the 1,650 free (17:58.58) and Noah Curry in the 200 free (1:51.40). Three Tiger swimmers also clocked runner-up finishes in individual events on the men's side, including Barren in the 50 free (22.55), Hongell in the 200 IM (2:05.32) and Curry in the 100 free (50.40).
Wittenberg tallied five total event victories in the women's competition, culminating with the team of freshman Abigail Dunasky, junior Claire Bergefurd, freshman Emma Menjivar and junior Annelise Gibson closing out the meet with a first-place time of 4:01.59 in the 400 free relay. Dunasky also added a first-place finish of her own in the 500 free (5:29.15) and a second-place performance in the 200 free with a time of 2:05.58. Three additional female swimmers posted wins in individual events, including senior Morgan Siefert in the 1,650 free (19:41.74), freshman Jessica Crowder in the 50 free (26.72) and junior Marita Banta-Long in the 200 fly (2:22.63). Banta-Long and Siefert also added second-place finishes on the night in the 200 IM (2:17.78) and 200 back (2:27.32), respectively. In the diving well, freshman Moonstar Davis finished second in the one-meter competition with a score of 160.90 points, while sophomore Kateleigh Lorimer was the runner-up in the three-meter competition with 133.20 points.
"I was happy with how we were as a team. To see the team, across the board, making the adjustments from practice to their races was great. We had some really good swims tonight - not simply in terms of final time, but also in swimming the race with a plan and executing on that plan" said interim head coach Noah Moran. "If it wasn't done the first race, the second race was improved upon. Diving also showed improvement in landing some regular dives and adding some new dives as well. The next step is to repeat for tomorrow's swims and dives."
The Tigers continue competition between the lane lines and in the diving well on Saturday afternoon with a double-dual conference meet against Oberlin and Wooster in Oberlin, Ohio.