March 15, 2007

WHITBECK WINS NATIONAL TITLE!

HOUSTON -- Grove City College sophomore sprinter Tim Whitbeck (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown) captured the NCAA Division III national title in the 50 freestyle Thursday night at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted by the University of Houston. Whitbeck won the national title with a time of 20.25 seconds, edging junior teammate Caleb Courage (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg). Courage took second in 20.32 seconds.

In addition, Whitbeck, Courage, sophomore Mitch Young (Greeley, Colo./Greeley West) and sophomore Drew Snyder (Harmony, Pa./Seneca Valley) combined to place fourth in the meet-opening 200 free relay. That quartet posted a time of 1:22.40, earning NCAA All-America honors for the second straight year.

Overall, Grove City is seventh in the team standings with 67 team points. Kenyon leads with 154 points.

Whitbeck entered the national championships as the second-ranked performer in the 50 nationally with a seed time of 20.44 seconds. He placed seventh in the preliminaries (20.65) but rebounded in the finals to win the national title.

Whitbeck is the second all-time men's swimming national champion in Grove City history. Courage won the 100 free at the 2006 NCAA Championships. Grove City also produced three national champion divers in the 1980s in Chris Van De Mark (1981-82), Dan Young (1983) and Clark Johnson (1984).

Courage is now an eight-time All-American while Whitbeck owns five All-America citations. Snyder is now a four-time All-American while Young is a three-time honoree.

Whitbeck is the second member of his family to capture an NCAA Division III title. His older sister, Peggy, won three straight NCAA 200 butterfly championships from 2002-04 while swimming for Grove City.

Friday's preliminaries will begin at 12 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The finals will start at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

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