Posted by: Ryan Maurer

Skip Ivery

Kristen Mumper

The Wittenberg men's and women's indoor track and field teams competed against a loaded field at Ohio State University over the weekend and turned in a host of outstanding individual performances in the Scarlet & Grey Invitational. No team scores were kept.

Two individuals stood out above the rest, much as they have all season. Junior Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) was beaten in the high hurdles for the first time this season, but it took a field of Division I scholarship athletes and unattached club team competitors to do it. Ivery broke his own school record in the 55-meter hurdles with a blistering time of 7.60, good for an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying time. He currently stands second in the nation in that event.

Junior Kristen Mumper (Cincinnati, Ohio/Purcell Marian) broke her own school record in the triple jump for the second straight week, going an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying 36 feet, seven inches. She finished fourth in the event with that personal-best mark. Mumper also claimed fourth place with a personal-best mark of 17-0 in the long jump, fourth in the 400 meters with a personal best 1:00.16 and ninth in the 200 with a school record and personal-best time of 27.34.

There were plenty of other notable performances and personal bests turned in during the meet as well. Among the men, junior Demetrius Ellison (Cleveland, Ohio/Garfield Heights Trinity) set a school record with a 23.03 in the 200, followed closely by sophomore Joe Rumschlag (Maumee, Ohio/Toledo Christian) with a 23.04, which was also under the old mark. Ellison also placed fifth in a tough 400 field with a 51.52, Rumschlag wound up seventh in the long jump and third in the triple jump (both with personal best marks), freshman Jered Glover (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) took seventh in the triple jump with a personal best mark and senior Adrian Crane (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) added an eighth place finish in the triple jump, also with a personal best.

On the women's side, personal-bests were turned in by sophomore Tina Valerius (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame) and sophomore Marissa Davoll (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) in the 55 hurdles, Valerius, Davoll and freshman Anna Finkelstein (Whitehall, Mich./Reeths-Puffer) in the 200 and freshman Beth Hurst (Loveland, Ohio/Cincinnati Sycamore) in the shot put.

Rounding things out was senior Abi Gerstle (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont), who finished second in the 3,000 with a personal best time of 11:05.98 and third in the mile in 5:24.83. For her outstanding efforts, Gerstle was named NCAC Women's Indoor Track and Field Distance Events Athlete of the Week. Wittenberg has had an indoor track and field athlete of the week every week since the season started Jan. 18.

Next: 3/1 at DePauw Invitational

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Kate Rolf

Meghan Bruggeman

The Wittenberg women's basketball team wrapped up the 2002-03 regular season in style last week, crushing North Coast Athletic Conference foes Oberlin and Denison on the Tigers' home court to complete a perfect 16-0 regular season conference record and run their overall mark to 21-4. Last Wednesday, the Tigers rang up their 15th straight win by defeating visiting Oberlin, 97-61.

Wittenberg never trailed in the game, but it took a while for the Tigers to really open things up. Leading 39-28 with 1:58 left in the first half, Wittenberg scored the last seven points before the halftime break to move out to a commanding 18-point advantage. The Tigers built on that by scoring eight of the first 10 points of the second half and slowly pulling away to the final 37-point margin of victory.

Senior guard Kate Rolf (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Carroll) found her shooting touch early in the game and went on to score 20 points. Rolf hit 7-of-13 shots from the field, including 4-of-8 from three-point range, and also pulled down four rebounds and snagged five steals. Also finishing in double figures were senior forward Meghan Bruggeman (Middletown, Ohio/Fenwick) with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and eight rebounds and junior forward Haley Warden (Loveland, Ohio/Indian Hill), who added 10 points and nine rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.

Saturday's regular season finale was more of the same as the Tigers surprisingly crushed the NCAC's third-place team, Denison, which came in with a six-game win streak, 83-55 on Senior Recognition Day.

This one was only close at the opening tip. The Tigers claimed leads of 8-2, 23-7, 39-11 and 50-15 before heading into the locker room with a stunning 51-19 halftime advantage. Wittenberg shot 56 percent from the field in the first half, canned 7-of-10 three-pointers and forced 21 Denison turnovers in racing out to the huge lead. It was possibly Wittenberg's finest half of basketball all season, and it obviously couldn't have come at a better time with the NCAC tournament looming next week.

In the second half, Wittenberg continued to run away from Denison, eventually stretching the margin to 81-39 before emptying the back end of the bench for the final five minutes of the game. Wittenberg was led by Bruggeman with 14 points, Rolf and junior guard Amber Bishop (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia) with 11 points and junior guard Christina Fischer (Norwood, Ohio/Cincinnati St. Ursula) and senior guard Stephanie Campbell (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) with 10 points.

The win capped the third perfect NCAC regular season in school history and the first since back-to-back 16-0 marks were posted in 1993-94 and 1994-95. The Tiger seniors, who have contributed to a 74-29 composite record over the last four years, were honored prior to the game. Along with Bruggeman, Rolf and Campbell, center Rebecca Meers (Moline, Ill./Moline) and forward Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw) made their final regular season appearances at the HPER Center. Of note, Rolf heads into the NCAC tournament ranked No. 4 in school history in scoring with 1131 career points, sixth in assists with 230 and first all-time in steals with 219. Campbell, despite playing just three seasons in the Red & White, is now tied for seventh in school history with 211 assists and ranks sixth in steals with 191.

The Tigers are back in action on Tuesday with a game at 5:30 p.m. against Oberlin. Wittenberg, the No. 1 seed in the NCAC tournament, will host the quarterfinal game Tuesday at the HPER Center and, provided the Tigers advance, will host the semifinals and finals on Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1.

Next: 2/25 vs. Oberlin, 5:30 p.m.
NCAC Tourn. Quarterfinals

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Rod Emmons

Peter Walker

The Wittenberg men's basketball team did it the hard way, but when the dust had settled on last week's exciting NCAC action, the Tigers had claimed a 14-2 regular season conference record and a 19-5 overall mark for the 2002-03 campaign.

On Wednesday, coming off an emotional home victory four days earlier over nationally ranked Wooster, the Tigers got out of the gates strong before settling into a classic overtime battle at Wabash. After narrowly escaping with a win that night, the Tigers returned home to close out the regular season with a convincing 75-51 win over Denison.

Against Wabash, Wittenberg had to fend off a determined challenge from host Wabash to escape with a thrilling 95-86 overtime victory. The Tigers came out strong behind the shooting of junior guard Rod Emmons (South Bend, Ind./John Adams). Emmons scored 17 of Wittenberg's first 22 points and had 20 tallies by the halftime intermission. During the first 20 minutes of action, Wittenberg moved out to a lead as large as 24 points before Wabash rallied to cut it to 44-33 by halftime.

In the second half, Wittenberg fended off every Little Giant challenge but one. Clinging to an 80-77 lead with eight seconds left, the Tigers attempted to foul Wabash on the drive upcourt, but no infraction was whistled and Wabash tied the game with just three seconds left in regulation. In the overtime Wittenberg finally pulled away. Senior forward Kevin Longley (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler) got things started with a conventional three-point play and fellow senior co-captain, center B.J. Harris (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins), closed things out with four straight free throws in the final 33 seconds.

Emmons finished with a career-high 38 points, a mere 17 more than his previous best total of 21 set in last year's NCAA Division III tournament loss at DePauw. Junior forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) added 13 points and seven rebounds. Harris finished with nine points and eight boards, while Longley added nine points and seven caroms.

The Tigers finished off the 2002-03 regular season with a full head of steam, defeating visiting Denison 75-51 to clinch second seed in the upcoming NCAC tournament. Wittenberg never trailed, jumping out to an 8-0 lead and holding onto a double-digit advantage for 33 of the game's 40 minutes. The Tigers worked the lead to 40-18 by halftime and then treaded water through a very even second half to coast to the win.

The difference in the game was shooting - Wittenberg hit 48 percent from the field, including 42 percent from three-point range, and also made 13-of-18 free throw shots. The Big Red managed just 34 percent from the field, 22 percent from beyond the arc and didn't even attempt a free throw in the entire game.

Wittenberg was led by Walker, who had his shooting stroke working en route to a game-high 19 points. Also finishing in double figures on offense was sophomore guard Danny Brywczynski (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) with 10 points.

Individually, Wittenberg's biggest and best story on Senior Recognition Night was provided by Longley, who became the second player this season to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career. Longley scored 16 points, including 13 in the first half, and became the 26th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. Harris reached that mark earlier in the season, and he chipped in with six points and eight rebounds on this night.

The two teams will meet again on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the NCAC Tournament. Denison is the No. 7 seed in the competition, while Wittenberg, the defending NCAC regular season and tournament champion, is the No. 2 seed behind nationally ranked Wooster. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:45 p.m., immediately following the Wittenberg women's game against Oberlin.

Next: 2/24 vs. Denison, 7:45 p.m.
NCAC Tourn. Quarterfinals

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The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams are awaiting word on who has officially qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship Meets scheduled for March 13-15 for the women and March 20-22 for the men. Selections for the national competition will be made official later this week.

Junior Steve Rader (Painesville, Ohio/Cleveland St. Ignatius) is expected to make his third consecutive appearance in the national meet. Already an All-America honoree several times over, Rader has an NCAA B cut time in the 200-yard Individual Medley after finishing second in the event at the North Coast Athletic Conference meet last week.

Freshman Rebecca Searcy (Shelbyville, Ky./Shelby County Bloomington) has three NCAA B cuts to her credit after improving her times in the 500 free, 1650 free and 400 IM at the NCAC meet. She finished fifth in the 500 free with a time of 5:07.37, fourth in the 1650 free in 17:39.54 and third in the 400 IM in 4:36.63. The latter time was a school record and earned Searcy her first All-NCAC honor.

Next: 3/13-15 NCAA Div. III Champs.
at Atlanta, Ga. (Women)
3/20-22 NCAA Div. III Champs.
at Atlanta, Ga. (Men)