March 17, 2007

COURAGE WINS 2ND NATIONAL TITLE; WOLVERINES FINISH 9TH

HOUSTON -- Grove City College junior swimmer Caleb Courage (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg) captured his second straight NCAA Division III title Saturday night in the 100 freestyle at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted by the University of Houston. Courage posted a Grove City-record time of 44.36 seconds in successfully defending his national crown in that event.

Courage led wire-to-wire, posting a time of 21.18 seconds over his first 50 yards. He then needed just 23.18 seconds to cover his second lap. Courage won the 2006 NCAA title with a time of 44.51.

Courage's victory helped Grove City placed ninth overall in the national team standings with 118 team points. Grove City's ninth-place overall finish is the program's best-ever national finish at the NCAA Division III Championships. In 1964, Grove City also placed ninth at the inaugural NCAA College Division Championships.

Grove City capped the meet by placing eighth in the 400 free relay. Courage, sophomore Tim Whitbeck (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown), sophomore Peter Larsen (Federal Way, Wash./Tacoma Baptist) and sophomore Drew Snyder (Harmony, Pa./Seneca Valley) earned NCAA All-America honors by posting a time of 3:06.19. It is Larsen's first NCAA All-America honor. Freshman Chip Cressman (Marriottsville, Md./Homeschooled) competed in the 400 free relay preliminaries for Grove City and thus, is also awarded All-America honors.

Larsen and Cressman are the 50th and 51st NCAA All-Americans, respectively, in Grove City men's swimming and diving history.

Cressman also competed in the 1650 Saturday, placing 25th with a time of 16:25.63. Whitbeck finished 31st in the prelims of the 100 free (46.96). Thursday night, Whitbeck won the NCAA title in the 50 free with a time of 20.25 seconds.

Courage is now an 11-time NCAA All-American. His 11 All-America citations are the most in Grove City history. Whitbeck is a six-time All-American while Snyder owns five NCAA All-America citations.

Kenyon won the team title with 570 team points while Denison took second with 351.

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