O'Connor's Record Swim Sparks Tigers On Final Day Of NCAC Meet

GRANVILLE, OH - The Wittenberg Swimming and Diving teams continued to show steady improvement as the Tiger women finished sixth in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championships for a second straight year and the Tiger men placed ninth. Competing in one of the strongest, deepest NCAA Division III conferences in the country, Wittenberg's women compiled 720.5 points, their highest point total since 2016, and the men finished with 314.

On the women's side, the final team standings showed third-ranked Kenyon atop the field with 2040 points, followed by fourth-ranked Denison with 1929, and DePauw with 1281. For the men, top-ranked Denison led the way with 2061.5 points, followed by 13th-ranked Kenyon with 1642, and Wabash with 1339.5.

Over the course of four eventful days and nights at Denison University, the Tigers showed that the success seen during the dual meet season was no fluke. In the regular season, Wittenberg's women went unbeaten in dual meets for the first time in program history, and the Tiger men showed a two-win improvement from the previous season. The momentum carried over to the league championships as dozens of swimmers recorded personal-best times, culminating with the program's first record-setting swim since 2017 by freshman Teagan O'Connor (Fort Wayne, IN / Carroll). She finished sixth in the 200 Fly with a time of 2:07.18, breaking a record set by Jane Tsivitse in 2013 (2:08.87).

O'Connor had plenty of help again on Day 4 of the championships. Other scorers for the Wittenberg women included:

• Sophie Paskiet (Toledo, OH / St. Ursula), eighth in the 200 Breast in a time of 2:27.80;
• Lilly Cook (Rensselaer, IN / Rensselaer Central), 13th in the 200 Back;
• Jade Paumi (Lexington, KY / Lafayette), 13th in the 200 Fly, 23rd in the 1650 Free
• Annie Gammon (Cincinnati, OH / Cincinnati Country Day), 15th in the 200 Breast;
• Addy Payne (Sidney, OH / Sidney), 16th in the 200 Fly, 16th in the 1650 Free
• McKenna Clark (Waynesville, OH / Carroll), 17th in the 100 Free;
• Bekah Lebold (Mount Vernon, OH / Mount Vernon), 17th in the 100 IM;
• Jenna Hallett (Delta, OH / Delta), 19th in the 100 IM;
• Shania Stone (Cincinnati, OH / Princeton) 19th in the 100 Free
• Allison Browning (Hillsboro, OH / Hillsboro), 27th in the 100 Free;
• Elisabeth Josellis (Warsaw, IN / Warsaw Community), 21st in the 1650 Free.

Rounding things out for the Wittenberg women, the 400 free relay finished seventh. The four swimmers in that relay were Cook, Clark, O'Connor, and Stone.

Individual scorers for the Wittenberg men included:

• Orry Farrington (Waterville, OH / Anthony Wayne), 26th in the 100 Free;
• Owen Gabel (New Bremen, OH / New Bremen), 22nd in the 200 Back;
• Tatum Paglia (Indianapolis, IN / Ben Davis), 23rd in the 100 free, 27th in the 100 IM;
• Nathan Rabun (Marion, OH / Wynford), 26th in the 100 Free;
• Mason Steen (Leroy, OH / Riverside), 25th in the 200 Breast;
• Andrew Tackett (Cuyahoga Falls, OH / St. Vincent-St. Mary), 22nd in the 1650 Free, after dropping a phenomenal 52 seconds off his seed time.

Finally, the 400 free relay team of Gabel, Rabun, Farrington, and Steen placed ninth.

Want to see more? Check out this awesome photo gallery from Saturday's prelims.