JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Off its final home meet of the season in wins over the Emmanuel Lions, Carson-Newman Swimming turns their heads to a Friday night dual meet with the King Tornado on Jan. 25 at 6:00 p.m. from Tennessee High School in Bristol, Tenn.
The meet is C-N's third of the month and will mark the final tune up before the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships which are set to take place from Feb. 6 to Feb. 9 in Charlotte, N.C.
The No. 7 ranked men's side came away with a 145-117 win over Emmanuel on Jan. 29 alongside the No. 14 ranked women's 163-99 total.
"Emmanuel came in with a really good strategy," Coach Jordan Taylor said. "They had some great performances and they were ready to race us. We were strong enough across the board and the confidence from that plus senior night, we made sure we came together on Saturday. They were well aware of the challenge and that's definitely the mindset I want them to have. Even getting beat by Division I schools, those are the competitions that make us better. The focus shifts this weekend and improving individually."
Taylor's program is 4-0 all-time in dual meets against the Tornado with the most recent outing coming inside the MSAC Pool 363 days ago. The C-N men earned a 159-31 victory alongside the women topping the Conference Carolina member 166-34.
The Tennessee native is led by former C-N assistant James Graves who spent five seasons at Mossy Creek before taking the head job in 2017. In the team's first year under Graves, they set a total of nine school records to go along with two Conference Carolinas champions, three All-Conference Carolinas selections, and one Academic All-Conference Carolinas honoree on the women's team.
"King is a team we've had good connections with over the years," Taylor said. "Jamie has a lot of similar coaching philosophies and I know he's doing great things there. He's trying to turn around a program that was on a smaller side and he's increased numbers this season and has gotten some great results. They're not going to roll over for us and it will be a challenge. Both teams are trying to tune up for conference but again, my main concern isn't necessarily the win but what my athletes are doing."
Stay tuned with updates from the meet and all C-N Athletics at cneagles.comand on our Twitter pages at @CNAthleticsand @CNSwim.
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