VIDEO: Jordan Taylor Interview
VIDEO: Margaret Stansberry Interview
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The second night of the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships saw the Carson-Newman swim team add to its list of All-Americans as the Eagles were recognized as among the best in the nation three times on Thursday night at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.
The first and most prestigious honor garnered by the Eagles came in the evening's initial race, the women's 200 free relay. Lisa Postma (Leiden, Holland), Margaret Stansberry (Knoxville, Tenn.), Elly Culp (West End, N.C.) and Mary Northcutt (Huntsville, Ala.) combined for a time of 1:33.65, the eighth fastest in the nation. That represents the highest finish in program history in that event and for their efforts, the group was named All-Americans. For Stansberry, this is the fourth time in her career she's been selected as an All-American, while it is the first such honor for Postma, Culp and Northcutt.
"We raced really well today," said swim coach Jordan Taylor. "The women's 200 free relay is a race that's decided by a few hundredths of a second and the girls had a great final swim tonight and got themselves on the podium for All-American. At the start of the season, the girls said they wanted to put together a relay that would finish All-American and they did that."
In the men's 200 free relay, C-N men gained Honorable Mention All-American status for the second straight day. Senior Sam Schechter (Knoxville, Tenn.) led a crew that included sophomores Jon Lancaster (Ringgold, Ga.), Jonny Goss (Heiskell, Tenn.) and Seth Hughes (Kingston, Tenn.) to clock in at 1:21.05. That put them 12th in the country and allowed Goss and Lancaster capture their first All-American award, while Hughes picked up his second and Schechter turned the trick for the third time this year and fifth time in his career.
"Jon Lancaster stepped up into our men's relay tonight," said Taylor, "and he finished with his best time and the guys behind him followed up and swam really well. We swam the second fastest time in school history. They were awesome and they supported each other and had a lot of fun."
Stansberry then collected another honor in the 200 free. She won the evening's "B" final, coming in at 1:49.96 and also grabbing another Honorable Mention All-American accolade in the process. The Eagles have netted that status in seven events at the NCAA Championships so far, with two more days of competition remaining.
"I was really happy with the day," said Stansberry, "Getting to be on that relay was an honor and doing it with those girls was awesome and I was happy with the individual swim also. We learned a lot in the morning and came back tonight and gave it everything we had."
In the women's competition, Carson-Newman has amassed 37 points to move into 18th place while conference rival and defending national champion Queens (N.C.) owns the top spot with 245 points. Drury sits in second with 223 and Wingate rounds out the top three with 173. C-N's men's squad has 24 points and are in 22nd with Queens again leading the way having piled up 296 points. Wingate is in second with Grand Valley State third.
Day three of the swimming and diving championships begins at 10:30 a.m. with another round of preliminary swims. Lexy Raybon (Sarasota, Fla.) will be participating in the women's 200 fly and Maggie Melhorn (Knoxville, Tenn.) will be among the competitors in the 100 breaststroke. Andrei Roman (Media, Romania) is also scheduled to swim in the men's 100 breaststroke. Live video of every race will be available on ncaa.com and a recap of the morning's competition will be posted on cneagles.com.
-CN-