CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The second day at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships inside the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center in Charlotte, N.C. yielded more positive results for the Carson-Newman swim team, as they captured a victory at the conference meet for the first time in two years and also saw one of their student-athletes break a pair of American records for the second consecutive evening.
During Thursday's time trials, Robert Griswold (Freehold, N.J.) rewrote the American Paralympic record book in the S8 class. In the 50 free, he hit the wall in 25.03, topping his own record that he set less than a year ago by more than a second. In the 200 free, his time of 1:56.36 dusted the old mark by nearly 10 full seconds. This comes just one day after the New Jersey native and Paralympic bronze medalist bested the previous American times in the 50 and 100 fly.
"Robert's swimming really well," swim coach Jordan Taylor said. "He came into this meet planning on breaking records and we've really been behind him and supported him. The crowd's also been great. Robert is attacking this meet."
In Thursday's finals, the Eagles continued to prove they are one of the top teams in the country. In the women's 50 free, freshman Mary Northcutt (Huntsville, Ala.) clocked in at 23.57, a personal best and a time that is also good enough for all-conference recognition.
In the men's 50 free, Sam Schechter (Knoxville, Tenn.) churned out a time of 20.21, which was good enough to not only set a new C-N record, but also capture the competition's top spot. This victory was the first for Mossy Creek's swimmers at the BMC Championships since 2015.
The evening concluded with the men's 400 medley relay and Schechter teamed with Seth Hughes (Kingston, Tenn.), Andrei Roman (Medias, Romania) and Pijus MacKevicius (Kaunas, Lithuania) to break another team record. They combined to finish with a time of 3:18.93, more than a half-second ahead of the Eagles' previous best, which was set in 2015.
With two days down and two days to go in Charlotte, the C-N men remain in second place for the second straight day with 446 points, ahead of 10th ranked Wingate and trailing only the country's top team, the Queens (N.C.) Royals. The 22nd ranked women remain in third with a score of 440, behind the Royals and Bulldogs.
"It's been a solid effort by the girls," Taylor said. "We need to try and get more people in the A finals and continue to do well in the relay and get people in the top three. For the guys, we need to continue doing what we're doing. The relays have played a big role. Our plan coming in was to be in the top three and the guys are really pumped about where they're at."
Friday is the third day of the BMC Championships, which conclude on Saturday. The finals will start at 6 p.m. and will once again be broadcast live on ESPN 3 and the Watch ESPN app. At the conclusion of the night's events, you can visit cneagles.com for a recap, as well as results.
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