SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg swimming & diving teams stayed strong on Friday night, winning on both the men's and women's sides over the Ohio Northern Polar Bears by scores of 121-119 for the men and 135-108 for the women.
After the Tigers dropped both the men's and women's 200 yard medley relay to start the night, sophomore Emily Roesch (Oakland, Mich./Lake Orion) lept from the starting block in the women's 1000 yard freestyle. She came back out of the water in first place, setting a trend for Tiger swimmers of both squads, who went on to take the day with first place finishes from many more athletes.
The HPER Center Natatorium set the scene for 15 first-place Tiger finishes, along with 11 second-place finishes. 12 athletes were part of first-place finishes in total, including a strong 3-meter diving top performance from freshman Megan Shubitowski (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson). Other women getting in on the fun were first-place finishers Adeline Brym (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington) in the 200 and 500 yard freestyles, Kristin Elber (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles, Kaitlin Clark (Wakeman, Ohio/Firelands) in the 200 yard individual medley, and Janna House (St. Thomas, Ontario/Central Elgin Collegiate Institute) in the 100 yard butterfly.
Emily Elliott (Cincinnati, Ohio/Clark Montessori), Emily Ellermann (Littleton, Colo./Littleton), House and Roesch also combined to take the top spot in the 200 yard freestyle relay, in an exciting two-second finish.
The men had a contingent of first-place finishers as well, led by standout sophomore Neil Anderson (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood), who touched first in three races, including the 200 and 500 yard freestyles and 100 yard butterfly.
Other first-place finishes were turned in from Phil Bambach (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) in the 200 yard individual medley, Matt Erenpreiss (Columbus, Ohio/Centennial) in 1-meter diving, and Matt Higbee (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) in the 100 yard backstroke.
Saturday, the team will travel to Wilmington for a 1 p.m. dual meet. After the wins Friday, the teams are 2-3 and 3-1, men and women respectively.