VIDEO: Jordan Taylor Interview
VIDEO: Mary Northcutt Interview
VIDEO: Hayden Williams Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In its first home meet on the 2019 campaign, the Carson-Newman Eagles swimming team defeated the Lees-McRae Bobcats by a combined team score of 290-78 Saturday afternoon.
"Overall, a great result," head coach Jordan Taylor said following the victory. "Winning pretty much every race today, which was a little bit expected coming into the meet. Our goal for our team was to focus on our own races, executing on the things we learned over the last few months."
C-N claimed victories in 21 of 22 events on the day, with the lone win for the Bobcats coming in the men's 400 IM, respectively.
Among many of the bright spots for the Eagles Saturday was senior Caleb Howell (Easley, S.C.), who posted a lightning-fast, 2:02.71 mark in the 200 breast. His time Saturday ranks first among all swimmers at the Division II level in the event, according to CollegeSwimming.com.
In the women's 100 free, freshman Linda Ungerboeck (Vienna, Austria) set the third-best time in C-N program history with a 10:42.69 pace. Fellow freshman Manon Compagner (Balkbrug, Netherlands) also shined with a 52.17 time in the women's 100 free, a time that ranks 15th best in Division II this season to this point.
Coach Taylor saw growth in the development of the entire team against Lees-McRae for freshmen and seniors alike.
"I think the team themselves were a little bit surprised with some of the times," he said. "There's still another few days of rest, we'll have easier workouts and really sharpen them up over the next four days."
Since the beginning of the season, Taylor has especially seen his relay teams make strides in improving for the long haul as the season moves along. C-N won each of the four relays in Saturday's event, knocking down times that were among the season's best.
"Our relay times continue to get faster and faster each week," Taylor said. "It's not just one or two of our swimmers that are improving, the whole team is improving."
Individual highlights include stand out sophomore Hayden Williams (Sevierville, Tenn.), who earned two victories for the men in the 200 fly (1:58.04) and the 500 free (4:55.88).
"In the past month we've been doing a lot more fly-based (practice), so I've been able to get a lot of fly in and that's helped the back-end of my 200 (fly)," Williams said.
Senior Mary Northcutt (Huntsville, Ala.) claimed first in the 50 free with a 23.90 and made a mark in the 400 free relay which saw her team out in front with a final time of 3:35.31.
"This meet really was our stepping stone going into the Tennessee Invitation next week," Northcutt said. "Across the board we had a lot of fast swimming. We were able to use this to brush up on some skills and we did a really good job of preparing ourselves for next week."
Set for Nov. 21-23 at the Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tenn., C-N will have the chance to swim alongside Division I talent. At last year's invite, the Eagles battled alongside the likes of Tennessee, Duke, Penn and Colorado-Denver.
"Just to swim against that kind of talent is always just a blessing, to get to race people at that level," Williams said.
The Eagles will head to Knoxville full steam ahead in a proving grounds weekend for the team.
"The positive energy and the momentum that we've got within this program a few days out from the biggest meet of the season is awesome," Taylor said.
