WCN (Westminster Cable Network)

Issue date: 3/22/10 Section: Titantown Sports

March 20, 2010

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The final day of the 2010 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships was the most successful for Westminster College. All three Titans competing in the meet raced in the 200-yard breaststroke on Saturday at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center in Minneapolis, Minn. The men's and women's school records for the event were set, two All-Americans were crowned and one received an honorable mention for the All-America team.

There were 61 women's teams across the country represented during the four-day meet and 70 men's teams. Final team results were not available Saturday at 9 p.m. (through 37 events) but Westminster was not in contention for the team title with the men in 35th place out of 58 teams and the women in 18th place out of 50 teams.

Sophomore Caitlin Lehberger (New Wilmington, Pa./Wilmington) placed fifth in the women's 200 breaststroke with a school-record time of 2:18.50 to become an All-American for the third time this meet. Lehberger was the second seed entering the finals after posting a school-record time of 2:18.85 in Saturday afternoon's preliminary.

Lehberger, who also posted fourth-place finishes in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.79) Friday and the 200 individual medley (2:04.15) Wednesday, is the Westminster women's team's first-ever NCAA All-American and the first overall since 1994 when Westminster was an NAIA school.

Senior Ben Gutmann (Cranberry Twp., Pa./Seneca Valley) placed sixth in the men's 200 breaststroke with a school-record time of 2:02.31 to earn All-America status for the first time in his career. Gutmann was the fourth seed going into the finals after his school-record time of 2:02.61 in Saturday afternoon's preliminary.

Gutmann is the fifth Westminster men's swimmer, second as a non-relay individual, to earn NCAA Division III All-America status since the Titans joined the division in 2003.

Junior Courtney Herdt (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver Falls) of the Titan women's team also earned an honorable mention for the All-America team in the 200 breaststroke as she placed 13th overall with a time of 2:21.06 in the consolation finals. Herdt advanced the consolation final with a 12th-place time of 2:21.73 in the preliminary on Saturday afternoon.

This story is a courtesy of the Westminster College Sports Information Office.

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