Members of the Wittenberg Swimming & Diving teams made the trip to Indianapolis to cheer on their Honorable Mention All-American teammates.
Contributed Photo
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The opening day of the 2012 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championship Meet went well for the Wittenberg Tigers, who earned eight women's team points after the four members of the 200-yard medley relay earned honorable mention All-America honors for a 13th-place finish.
Junior Ward McNulty (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier), sophomore Sarah Wilson (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe), sophomore Molly Gustafson (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) and senior Keaton Hannon (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) turned in a time of 1:47.36 in the morning prelim race to narrowly earn a spot in the evening consolation final race. The top eight teams earn spots in the championship final, while the next eight teams earn spots in the consolation final. Wittenberg finished 16th, a scant .08 ahead of Hamilton for the final spot.
In the consolation final, the Tiger relay moved up three spots to 13th with a time of 1:46.73, just off their seed time of 1:46.09. The same four swimmers qualified for the national meet and broke a school record with that time at last month's North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship meet.
"I am so proud of this accomplishment and all the hard work that went into it by this group of swimmers," said Head Coach Natalie Koukis, whose team stands 33rd after the first day of the four-day competition with eight points. "It is so great for each of them individually, and it is a wonderful achievement for the team.
"We even had a large group of team members, family and friends in the stands cheering our swimmers on today. That was such a boost to all of us."
Wilson, Gustafson and Hannon will each compete in one individual event during the championships. The four newest Tiger All-Americans will also team up to compete in three more relay events.