Emily Roesch
ADA/SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers turned in a pair of weekend performances that exhibited both the depth and overall strength of the men's and women's swimming and diving squads. On Friday, the Tigers easily topped Ohio Northern, and less than 24 hours later they won by an even more convincing margin against Wilmington.
The Ohio Athletic Conference sweep moved the Tiger men back above the .500 mark with a 4-3 dual meet record, while the women are putting together another season of note with a 5-1 dual meet mark. Both teams will take a break from the duals, however, with only an appearance at the DePauw Invitational between now and the annual Christmas break training trip in Florida.
Against ONU, the Tiger men were victories by a score of 158-83 after losing to the Polar Bears in Wittenberg's HPER Center Natatorium just a year ago. Wittenberg was led by three individual victories from freshman Neil Anderson (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood) in the 1000-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly in another tremendous performance of his inaugural collegiate campaign.
Other Wittenberg winners included sophomore Ryan Hamilton (Mount Vernon, Ohio/Charisland Academy) in the 200-yard freestyle, junior Ryan Schramm (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) in the 200-yard Individual Medley, senior Cody Nicely (Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden) in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, junior Brian Harris (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) in the 100-yard freestyle, freshman Taylor Smith (Mansfield, Ohio/Senior) in the 100-yard backstroke and senior Matt Reiss (Beavercreek, Ohio/Carroll) in the 100-yard breaststroke.
On the women's side, the score was similarly lop-sided at 149-92. Leading the charge for the Tigers were freshmen Emily Roesch (Oakland, Mich./Lake Orion) with firsts in the 1000-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle, Janna House (St. Thomas, Ontario/Central Elgin Collegiate Institute) with firsts in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, freshman Adeline Brym (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington) with firsts in the 200-yard Individual Medley and 100-yard freestyle and freshman Lauren Stets (Westerville, Ohio/North) with firsts in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
Other Wittenberg winners included junior Lindsay Smith (Mount Vernon, Ohio/Mount Vernon) in the 50-yard freestyle and senior Jenny Mulligan (Cheyney, Pa./Delaware Valley Friends) in the 100-yard backstroke.
Against Wilmington, the scores were equally convincing as the Tigers would have won 20 of the 22 events if swimmers' times weren't marked as exhibition. The finals read 107-66 in favor of the Tiger men and 112-79 in favor of the Tiger women.
Individually, the Tiger men officially picked up wins from Schramm in the 200 free, Smith in the 50 free and 100 back, Anderson in the 200 IM, senior Sean Wolf (White Lake, Mich./Walled Lake Central) in the 100 free, and the members of the A entry of both relay events.
For the women, official victories were posted by Roesch in the 1000 free and 200 IM, Smith in the 200 free, freshman Kristin Elber (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) in the 50 free, junior Kaitlin Clark (Wakeman, Ohio/Firelands) in the 100 free, Mulligan in the 100 back and senior Hillary Clark (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) in the 500 free.