CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Carson-Newman Swimming program saw action against Queens University to start the mid-season competition at the inaugural Winter Round Robin.
The Eagles faced off against the host Queen University Royals in five different events. The events for today's competition were the 200-yd freestyle relay, 500-yd freestyle, 200-yd individual medley, 50-yd freestyle, and the 400-medley relay.
To start off the night, the Eagles took third place in the women's 200-yd freestyle with a time of 1:35.38 from Carson-Newman team "A" (Kennadi King, Chrisman Rand, Meredith Ginn, and Antonia Sanint) while garnering a first-place finish in the men's 200-yd freestyle, with team "A" (Mikita Puzevich, Brandon Meier, Raphael Lima, and Chase Rayment) finishing in 1:21.12.
Sophomore Raphael Lima (Sao Paulo, Brazil) continued his success this season with a first-place time of 20.31 in the men's 50-yd freestyle. Lima's time is only .10 seconds (20.21) from a top-5 time in program history for the event.
"Overall, a solid start to this meet. First day swims can be a little hit or miss and a few people struggling with nerves and the pressure a little," Taylor said. "We had a number of best times and top 5 record board performances. Our men's 200-free relay were under the NCAA National qualifying standard."
The Eagles also gained the victory in the men's 500-yd freestyle by junior Matthew George (Manchester, England) who came in with a time of 4:28.57. This is the third-fastest men's 500-yd freestyle in program history, and George now holds two of the top three times in program history for the event.
On the women's side of competition, sophomore Manon Compagner (Balkburg, Netherlands) gathered a third-place finish in the women's 50-yd freestyle. Sophomore Rachel Peden (Boiling Springs, S.C.) came in with a time of 5:06.27 to place third in the women's 500-yd freestyle.
The Eagles will be back in action for the second day of action at the Winter Round Robin tomorrow night starting at 5:00 p.m. ET against an opponent they've seen already this season, the Wingate Bulldogs, who gave the Eagles a tough home loss inside the MSAC on Nov. 14.
"Tomorrow, it will be great going up against Wingate again and battling it out in each event," Taylor stated. "Should be an even better day for us tomorrow. I'm very excited and I know the team will make changes to ensure they are able to step up tomorrow."
Wingate is livestreaming every race of the Winter Round Robin on their official YouTube page, and links will be provided for fans on Twitter (@cnathletics) and via cneagles.com
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