NEW WILMINGTON — When Ben Gutmann closed out his Westminster College swimming career, he made quite an exit.

In March, the senior from Cranberry Township became the first Titans male swimmer since 2007 to earn All-American honors at the NCAA Division III National Championship meet.

Gutmann placed sixth in the 200 breaststroke with a school-record time of 2 minutes, 2.61 seconds.

The last week, Gutmann was named to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Scholar All-America team.

The Seneca Valley graduate had a 3.7 GPA during the semester.

To be named to the team, a swimmer must have attained a 3.5 GPA and qualified for the national championship meet.

"My expectation before the season was to make nationals and I really wanted to get on that podium (finish in the top eight)," said Gutmann.

"The 200 breaststroke is my stronger event. I just really got a grasp on it this year. It takes a lot of mental toughness. It's a tough event and you've got to learn how to swim it, how to take it on and pace it," Gutmann added.

Gutmann was 13th in the 100 breaststroke, also with a school-record time of 56.86. He was named the Presidents' Athletic Conference's Men's Most Valuable Performer after winning conference titles in both events.

His 200 breaststroke time set a PAC record that was five seconds faster than the runner-up performance.

As the Titans' lone male representative at nationals, Gutmann tallied enough points to give Westminster a 35th-place finish.

As a junior, Gutmann was the PAC men's 100 breaststroke champion (57.33), was runner-up in the 200 breaststroke (2:05.78) and third in the 400 individual medley (4:10.48).

As for the scholar All-American honor, that came as no surprise.

Gutmann, who graduated with a degree in history and a minor in secondary education, ended up with a 3.18 GPA. But, as he did in the pool, Gutmann finished strong in the classroom as well.

"It was definitely nice. I knew it was coming," said Gutmann. "Now that it's all said and done and I do have the award, it really means a lot. You realize what you put into it all year."

As a senior at Seneca Valley, Gutmann placed third in the WPIAL Class AAA finals in the 100 breaststroke and qualified for the state championships.

When it came time to chose a college, former Raiders coach Tom Donati earned the assist.

"(Donati) graduated from (Westminster) and he threw it out there like, 'You might want to take a look there," Gutmann said. "It felt like it was a family there."

The only thing for Gutmann was to make the adjustment from high school to a competitive college program.

"In high school, there wasn't a 200 breaststroke, just the 100 breast," Gutmann said. "My freshman year, I did the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM.

He eventually added the 400 IM into the mix, knowing "that I could get us some points in the conference meet."

While he continues his job search, Gutmann looks back at not just his amazing senior campaign, but his entire stint at Westminster.

"I take away from it a lot of friendships," said Gutmann, "and, more importantly, qualities like determination and self-drive. To set a personal goal and want it bad."