Wittenberg Sweeps Double Dual

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg University men's and women's swimming and diving teams swept a double dual meet Saturday, hosting Wilmington and Transylvania in the HPER Center Natatorium. The men moved to 5-1 in their dual meet schedule and the women to 4-2.

The men defeated Wilmington 96-33 and Transylvania 92-43, while the women took home wins of 111-28 over Wilmington and 83-56 over Transylvania.

To start things off, the 200-yard medley relay team of freshman Sarah Wilson (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe), freshman Molly Gustafson (West Hartford, Conn./Conard), sophomore Jane Tsivitse (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming) and sophomore Ward McNulty (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) took first place in a time of 1:54.13.

Gustafson went on to add a win in the 100 backstroke and McNulty tacked on a 50 freestyle victory. Later, Tsivitse, Gustafson and McNulty teamed up with sophomore Katherine Ritzi (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) to take first in the 200 freestyle relay.

Senior Megan Shubitowski (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) also won multiple events, sweeping the one- and three-meter diving competitions.

Other women's winners included junior Victoria Parker (Columbus, Ind./North) in the 1000 freestyle and junior Megan Tassone (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline) in the 200 breaststroke.

The men also started the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay on strong performances by junior Teddy Hutchinson (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury Regional), senior Phil Bambach (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome), senior Zach Stewart (Vincennes, Ind./Lincoln) and freshman Jon Drewsen (Fond du Lac, Wisc./Fond du Lac), who again posted the event's best leg.

All four swimmers from the relay went on to additional individual wins, including the 50 and 100 freestyles for Drewsen, the 200 free and 100 butterfly for Stewart, the 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke for Hutchinson and the 100 breaststroke for Bambach.

Freshman Blake Bosworth (Grandville, Mich./Grandville) also took home multiple wins, racing to first-place finishes in the 1000 and 500 freestyles. Other winners included sophomore Andrew Koukis (Delaware, Ohio/Hayes) in the 100 back and junior Gus Appenbrink (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) in the one-meter diving.

For Transylvania,  Freshman Chelsea Diamond continued her weekend winning streak by picking up victories in the 100 backstroke (1:02.90) and 100 freestyle (57.01).  Also picking up victories were sophomore Amanda Skinner in the 100 butterfly (1:01.65) and 100 backstroke (2:15.03), and Ali Cahill in the 200 freestyle (2:04.06).

On the men's side, Freshman Tucker Nyhan posted the top time in the 200 IM (2:09.69), as did Yunan Yang in the 200 breaststroke (2:26.82).

Speaking for the Wilmington Quakers, head coach Trip Breen said, “We saw some good competition today, which I think is ultimately good for us.  We competed better against good teams today than we have so far this year. The kids were ready to go when we got there and started off with some great swims.”

Kristen Deutsch (Beavercreek) had a big meet, finishing third in the 500-yard freestyle before bouncing back to win the 1,000 freestyle.

In the men's meet, Alex Fout (Westerville) finished a close second in the 50-yard freestyle, touching .05 second behind Wittenberg’s Jon Drewsen.

“Alex got nipped by a frog hair,” Breen said. “He keeps chipping away every weekend, and that’s what our sprinters have to do. Part of it is just getting the experience. In the sprints, you just cannot make a mistake. He’s doing a better job in practice, and that is starting to pay dividends for him in races.”

The beat goes on for Corbin Hellwarth (Celina/Parkway). The freshman finished second in the 200 breaststroke.

“Corbin led most of the race. It was just the third time he has ever swum the 200 breaststroke,” Breen said. “The 200 breaststroke is a much different race than the 100, and I think that we’re going to learn that the 200 suits his style better than the 100 does.”

The Quakers’ 200 freestyle relay team of Josh Ward (Sidney), Fout, Dave Heidrich (Xenia/Beavercreek) and Casey Thompson (Liberty Township/Lakota East) finished second.

“We showed continued improvement, which is exactly what he have to continue to do,” Breen said

Wittenberg will head to Ohio Northern next for a 6 p.m. meet on Friday, Nov. 19, while the Transylvania Pioneers head to conference Rival Franklin (IN) on November 20 and Wilmington rests for the Thanksgiving Holiday before traveling to Ohio Wesleyan the first weekend in December.