Season in Review

The Wittenberg University men's and women's swimming and diving teams had a solid first year under the direction of new head coach Natalie Koukis.

April 2, 2005

Setting the Scene:

Setting the Scene: The Wittenberg University men's and women's swimming and diving teams had a solid first year under the direction of new head coach Natalie Koukis.

The women finished with an 8-3 record against a strong dual meet schedule, while an inexperienced men's squad wound up a respectable 6-6 in duals. The women added a fourth-place finish in the treacherous North Coast Athletic Conference, while the men were sixth after falling a few points short in a dogfight for fourth place.

Two school records fell and the women had three athletes reach NCAA Division III provisional qualifying times during the season, one of the highest numbers in school history.

Jonathan Newcomer

Conference Finish:

The Tiger teams turned in solid finishes at the NCAC championships Feb. 10-12 in Canton, Ohio. The Tiger women placed fourth for the fifth straight year, behind Kenyon, Denison and Wooster, three of the top teams in the nation annually. The Tiger men placed a deceiving sixth, just 30 points out of fourth place.

The meet highlight for the Red & White was clearly provided by junior Becca Searcy (Shelbyville, Ky./Shelby County), who placed in the top five in three individual events and earned provisional qualifying times each time, including an NCAA "A" Cut time of 17:26 in the 1650-yard freestyle, good for third place and All-NCAC honors.

Junior Betany Yeakley (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington) turned in the first All-NCAC finish of her career by taking third place in the 100 backstroke in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 59.54. She also placed sixth in the 200 back.

Sophomore Jen Mulligan (Cheyney, Pa./Delaware Valley Friends) was also outstanding in both backstroke events, placing sixth in the 100 and seventh in the 200. It's an indication of the phenomenal depth in the NCAC field that Mulligan was one of six individuals to earn NCAA "B" Cuts in the 100 back.

Also of note individually was freshman Lindsay Smith (Mount Vernon, Ohio/Mount Vernon), who turned in strong performances in the 50 and 100 free and the 100 butterfly. She turned in a pair of 10th place finishes in the freestyle events.

In the women's relays, the Tigers were consistent but also unable to break through for an All-NCAC finish. Yeakley, junior Amy Conner (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville), Mulligan and Smith placed fifth in the 400 medley relay, sophomore Shantel Sechrist (Saltsburg, Pa./Saltsburg), Conner, Mulligan and Smith placed fifth in the 200 medley relay, Searcy, sophomore Hillary Clark (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), freshman Kaitlin Clark (Wakeman, Ohio/Firelands) and Yeakley came in fourth in the 800 free relay, and Kaitlin Clark, Searcy, Yeakley and Smith took fifth in the 400 free relay.

Rounding things out for the women was freshman Courtney Roth (Gurnee, Ill./Lake Forest), who placed fourth in the 3-meter diving competition and seventh in the 1-meter.

On the men's side, the team's points leader was freshman Ryan Schramm (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon), who finished 10th in the 400 IM and fifth in the 1650 free, the latter being the best individual finish for a Tiger men's swimmer. The best individual finish overall came from sophomore Cody Nicely (Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden), who placed third in the 3-meter diving event and sixth in the 1-meter event. It was the second straight year he has earned All-NCAC honors.

Sophomore Sean Wolf (White Lake, Mich./Walled Lake Central) turned in several outstanding finishes, including a pair of 12th places in the 50 and 100 free. In addition, senior Jonathan Newcomer (Valencia, Pa./Mars Area) place 11th in the 100 back and 18th in the 200 back, and freshman Nick Pierson (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) placed 12th in the 400 IM.

One top-five relay finish was turned in by Newcomer, sophomore Ben Weible (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood), senior Blake Troxel (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell) and junior Dan McGuire (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) in the 200 medley relay.

The Tigers get fired up before a meet.

National Finishes:

The Wittenberg women's swimming and diving team had one participant in the 2005 NCAA Division III Championship meet March 10-12 at Hope College in Holland, Mich. Searcy advanced to the national meet for the third straight year and she emerged with her fifth honorable mention All-America designation.

Battling illness that hampered training for the big event, Searcy placed 14th in the 1650-yard freestyle to earn the national honor. The top eight swimmers in each event earn All-America honors, while the 9th through 16th place finishers are named honorable mention.

Searcy came into the meet with the ninth fastest time in the nation in the 1650-yard freestyle, 23rd fastest in the 500 free and 18th fastest in the 400 Individual Medley. She added a 25th place finish in the 500 free and a 29th in the 400 IM.

Searcy scored three points for the Tigers, giving Wittenberg 50th place as a team in the meet.

Record-Breakers:

Smith broke the school record in the 50 free with a time of 24.83 at the Case Western Reserve University Veale Invitational on Feb. 19. The time was just short of the NCAA Division III "B" Cut.

Yeakley set a new standard in the 100 back with a time of 59.43. The mark was good for an NCAA "B"Cut, but Yeakley just missed an invitation to the national meet for a second straight year.

The Coach:

Natalie Koukis (Ohio Wesleyan '99) completed her first season at the helm of the Tiger program. She took the reins in July 2004 after two years as head men's and women's swimming and diving coach, director of aquatics and instructor of physical education at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts.

Koukis led WPI's men's and women's teams to their highest finishes ever in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference. Her coaching career began with the Delaware U.S. Club Team as head assistant coach between 1997 and 2001. After graduation, Koukis served as an assistant men's and women's swimming and diving coach at her alma mater from 1999 to 2001 before moving on to Ithaca, where she earned a master's degree while serving as an assistant swimming and diving coach.