Wittenberg men’s swim team have earned back to back wins after two loses to open the season. Meanwhile, the women’s team is battling and has come up short in all of their meets so far.
The teams opened the season with an NCAC relay meet at Kenyon on Oct. 20. The men’s team fell to sixth place and the women’s fifth out of a total of seven teams.
Scoring for the men were a trio of relays placing ninth. The 500-crescendo relay was composed of Brad Barren, ’20, Noah Curry, ’22, Nick Angeli, ’20 and Ben Hongell, ’22. Barren, Casey Conrad, ’22, Anthony Petruzzi, ’22 and Trey Gregory III, ’21, competed in the 200-fly relay. Finally, the team of Angeli, Petruzzi and Connor Flannagan, ’21, swam the 3×500 freestyle.
For the women, two of the relays took home top six finishes. The 3×500 freestyle team of Morgan Siefert, ’19, Emma Minjivar, ’22 and Claire Bergefurd, ’22, took home fifth place. The squad of Annelise Gibson, ’20, Abby Dunasky, ’22, Sophia Spriggs, ’22 and Breann Webb, ’22, finished the 200-breaststroke relay with a respectable sixth place finish. The duo of Kateleigh Lorimer, ’21, and Moonstar Davis, ’22, also showed up to compete with a third-place finish in the one meter diving event.
The teams then hosted Ohio Wesleyan for the Halloween Dive-In Movie Night on Oct. 26. Both teams fell in a lopsided affair, with the men losing 89-135 and the women losing 72-165. The night was not without some success though, as four men—Barren in the 50 free, Gregory in the 100 fly, Hongell in the 200 free and Curry in the 100 free— and Dunasky, in both the 400IM and 500 free, finished first in their respective events. Marita Banta-Long, ’20, also had a big night for the Tigers with a pair of second place finishes in the 200 free and 100 fly.
After this loss, the teams took their talents to Wilmington University on Nov. 3 to face off against the Quakers and Transylvania University. The men’s team showed up in a big way with seven event wins, plus a victory over both competitors. However, The women fell in the competitive meet and finished in a distant score, albeit only 10 points behind Wilmington.
For the men, Barren and Gregory led the way in scoring as both finished with two event victories. Barren won both the 50 free in 25.30 seconds and 100 free in 56.60. Following suit, Gregory crushed competition in the 100 and 200 fly. Hongell, 200 free, and Flannagan, 200 backstroke, also took home individual event wins. To finish the meet, Barren, Gregory, Angeli and Petruzzi won the 200-free relay in a time of 1:44.51.
For the women, Banta-Long dominated the evening with three individual event victories. She won the 100 and 200 fly as well as the 200 back. Jessica Crowder, ’22, Gibson, Banta-Long and Bergefurd also finished the evening with a win in the 200-free relay.
The swimming teams look to build off of the men’s success in this upcoming weekend, which includes a meet at Ohio Northern University on Nov. 16 and Oberlin College on Nov. 17.
To catch your Tigers in competition make sure to stop by the HPER Center Natatorium on Jan. 12, 2019 at 2 p.m. to watch them take on the University of Cumberlands and Indiana State University.
