JEFFERSON CITY, TN - The Carson-Newman swim team have received the highest national rankings in program history. The Eagles have been tabbed as fourth on the women's side and fifth on the men's in NCAA DII national rankings heading into Saturday's competition against national powerhouse of recent year, the Wingate Bulldogs.

These rankings were bestowed upon the Eagles after a dominating performance against the Milligan Buffaloes to open the 2020-21 campaign. At the meet, the Eagles were victors in 23 out of the total 28 events. 

"For me, especially this season, are taking with a pinch of salt. I'm encouraging the team to set targets and see where there is need of improvement at the national level." Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "Our goal is to continue swimming fast and competitively. If we can keep this ranking, it proves our strong our program truly is and gives the athletes something to pursue and push for."

The ranking comes along with the announcement of sophomores Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands) and Raphael Lima (Sao Paulo, Brazil) being named female and male BMC swimmer of the week following last Saturday's performance against Milligan.

"With our conference being the fastest in Division II, it is always impressive to garner those accolades," Taylor said. "We know we still have stiff competition like Queens and Wingate to still compete, but for us to start the season off this high at the national level is something we hope to continue."

Being ranked is nothing new to the Eagles. Carson-Newman received national rankings on both sides last year after dominating the King Invitational in Bristol, TN on Oct. 4^th and 5^th, 2019 to the tune of 32 first-place finishes out of 36 events. This time around, the team has achieved a higher position than at any point in history.

C-N looks for a repeat performance and another boost up the rankings in their upcoming dual-meet inside the MSAC against Wingate on Nov. 14^th.

"It gives us motivation and a boost of morale going into a weekend against a strong opponent like Wingate." Taylor said. "We have a lot of nationally ranked athletes and hope the team takes this as fuel to a fire and competes at a high level to stay where we are now or to improve."  

C-N is the highest ranked team among a total of five BMC opponents. The other BMC teams ranked are Lees-McRae (#16 in women and #23 in men), Lenoir-Rhyne (#18 in women, #16 in men), Catawba (#32 in women, #24 in men), and Queens (N.C.) are #35 in women and #6 in men's. These rankings are out of a total of 69 teams ranked in Division II.

Be sure to keep up with the Carson-Newman swim team all across C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.