JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Last season, Carson-Newman swimming's first competitive home meet was spoiled by the Limestone Saints.
Limestone swept the duel meet and finished with a 296-218 combined win.
This season, the Eagles can act as the spoilers as Carson-Newman travels to Gaffney, S.C. for a Bluegrass Mountain Conference duel meet with Limestone at the Timken Aquatic Center. This weekend's meet will be the first home meet for the Saints this season.
"Limestone is very talented. They beat us last year," swim coach Paige McCord said in advance of the Eagles' meet. "Obviously, we are going in at a little bit of a disadvantage. They are really strong. They have some excellent breaststrokers specifically."
Carson-Newman is coming off a huge first meet of the 2014-15 season. Lenior-Rhyne traveled to Mossy Creek and C-N swept the Bears with the highest point total in school history. McCord's squad put up a combined 410 points en route to the first meet win of the season.
Limestone enters the meet with a blemish-free record after sweeping BMC foe Catawba 325-197 in Salisbury and taking top honors at the Conference Carolinas Invitational.
At last season's BMC Swimming Championships, Limestone finished fourth while Carson-Newman finished sixth.
The Eagles have broken eight school records in two meets in 2014 and while freshman Margaret Stansberry (Knoxville, Tenn.) and sophomore Taylor Bing (Memphis, Tenn.) have not set a record this season for the women's team, they have brought home multiple first-place finishes.
"Margaret has been a bit of a nice surprise for us. She has shown some early speed for us quickly. And then Taylor, everything from being able to do the distance to come down to do some of the longer sprints has really been nice for us as we look at flexibility," McCord said.
On the men's side, two swimmers are expected to have a good meet against the Saints, sophomores Tommy Bourgeois (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Josh Grover (Villa Rica, Ga.).
"Tommy is really swimming well right now in practice. I think we are excited about where he is going," McCord said. "Josh Grover is very consistent for us and I think he is going to have a great meet."
Of course McCord wants to see her swimmers win their individual events against the Saints, but to win the meet, it will take consistency from the Eagles.
"It will take a full team effort from us. The win will come from the second, third, fourth and fifth-place finishes against Limestone, not necessarily just wins. I expect us to compete as a team and additionally, to look for some individual wins."
The Carson-Newman and Limestone duel meets starts at 1 p.m. Saturday.
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