KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Day one of the Tennessee Last Chance Invitational wrapped up for Carson-Newman swimming on at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.
The last time the Eagles competed against D1 swimmers was from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 in the UT Mid-Season Invitational.
The last chance meet gives athletes one last opportunity to grab a national qualifying time prior to nationals next month.
Teams in attendance pushing for spots in D1 nationals included the UT Volunteers and Louisville.
For the women's athletes, the top-26 times throughout the season in each individual event garner a place at nationals. On the men's side, the top-21 times provide the trip to one of the biggest stages in swimming.
With relay teams, at least one swimmer has to qualify for an individual event for the group to earn a spot at nationals.
Jon Lancaster's time in the 200 yard individual medley prelim is a lifetime best time this season for the junior as he sits inside top-20 at No. 17 with a time of 1:48.86. Last year, Lancaster missed out on nationals by one spot.
Marcelo Figueiredo posted the 21st best time in the country with a time of 4:29.52 in the 500 yard freestyle, which was five seconds better than his conference time and narrowly missed a school record in the event.
CJ Jensen's lifetime best in the finals of the 200 yard butterfly at 2:04.01 puts her at 21st in the country.
Nikola Tadic turned in a time of 45.34 seconds setting a new lifetime best in the 100 yard freestyle and the best time of any Eagle in the event this season, recording a national 'B' time.
The relay group of Caleb Howell, Andrei Roman, Ivo Kunzle and Chad Andoljsek posted a time of 3:19.00 in the 400 yard medley. Howell was a late replacement to the relay group due to injuries on the team as he posted had a new lifetime best in the swim. The relay narrowly missing a school record by .08 seconds and national qualification by.5 seconds.
The 800 freestyle relay team of Lancaster, Tadic, Howell and Figueiredo broke a school record by 1.5 seconds in the event, and earned an automatic qualifying time to nationals putting together a time of 6:39.06
Andrei Roman also competed posting a time of 55.52 seconds in the 100 yard breaststroke.
Chad Andoljsek and Ivo Kunzle finished at 20.64 seconds and 21.27 seconds respectively in the 50 yard freestyle time trials.
Different events will be scheduled for tomorrow but most, if not all swimmers will have the opportunity to improve their times.
"They are all pretty pumped up about tomorrow," Coach Jordan Taylor said. "We will compete in some extra relays since they are all swimming so well, more than we anticipated. Everyone was really good today and we are really excited to get back in the pool tomorrow."
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