CANTON, Ohio – A strong first day at the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championships for the Wittenberg Tigers was highlighted by a pair school records.
Both occurred on the women's side for Wittenberg, powering the squad to an impressive third-place finish by day's end. The Tigers are well behind first-place Kenyon and second-place Denison – two of the top three teams in the latest national rankings – but Wittenberg stands four points ahead of another nationally ranked perennial powerhouse program, DePauw. The Tigers scored 234 points to lead a tight race for No. 3, trailed closely by DePauw with 230, Wooster with 213 and Allegheny with 206.
For the men, Wittenberg stands fourth behind Denison, Kenyon and DePauw. The Tigers check in with 177 points to lead Oberlin (173), Wooster (164.5), Allegheny (149), Wabash (148) and Ohio Wesleyan (127) in what figures to be a heated battle for the fourth position in the final standings on Saturday.
The first school record was actually broken twice during the meet by the women's 200-yard freestyle relay team. After the quartet of freshman Dani Lacy (Louisville, Ky./Louisville Collegiate School), freshman Margaret White (Westfield, Ind./Westfield), senior Jane Tsivitse (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming) and senior Ward McNulty (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) broke the school record with a time of 1:37.34 in the morning prelims, the foursome of Lacy, Tsivitse, McNulty and senior Claire Shannon (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) lowered the mark in the evening finals with a time of 1:37.21. The Tigers finished fifth in the race with a time that was just 0.67 off an NCAA Division III B Cut Provisional Standard.
The Tiger men placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay, touching the wall in 1:25.37 in the finals after strong performances from sophomore James Dumstorf (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier), senior J.B. Easley (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seven Hills), sophomore A.J. Burt (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming) and sophomore Jared Crum (Galveston, Ind./Lewis Cass).
Tsivitse added another school record time, this one coming in the prelims of the 200-yard Individual Medley. She finished in a time of 2:09.99 before posting a time of 2:10.64 in the B final to place ninth in the event.
Back to the men, freshman Kevin Duhl (Westerville, Ohio/North) turned in a solid fifth-place finish in the 1-meter diving competition, followed closely by sophomore teammate Eric Roberts (Willits, Calif./Willits) in sixth.
The day's second relay produced Wittenberg's first All-NCAC finish as the quartet of junior Sarah Wilson (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe), junior Molly Gustafson (West Hartford, Conn./Conard), Tsivitse and Lacy placed third in the 400-yard medley relay. Their time of 3:55.22 was just 0.42 away from an NCAA B Cut.