ATHENS, Ga. – The fountain of youth was alive and active for Carson-Newman swim as they competed in the Bulldog Last Chance Invitational in Athens, Ga. The Eagles saw multiple top-time and lifetime best turned in from freshman and sophomore while they move closer to DII Nationals in a couple weeks. In total, the Eagles had 12 athletes in action trying to secure better individual times and hoping to make a place in DII Nationals.
After the two-day event concluded, the Eagles finished fourth out of nine total teams with a team total of 52 points. The teams ahead of C-N were Division I opposition in Florida State, Georgia, and Florida. Meanwhile, C-N secured themselves a spot above other DI level competition in the University of Wyoming, BYU, University of Miami (FL), and Florida Gulf Coast.
"Overall a very good weekend filled with lots of lifetime and season bests," head coach Jordan Taylor said. "A few have really improved their chances of getting invited to NCAA national championships as well as many changes have been made to C-N's top 5."
Sophomore Nikita Puzevich (Belarus) continued his successful event journey as he won the men's 100-yard freestyle in a time of 44.43. Puzevich absolutely annihilatated his prelim time of 1:05.01 in the event while teammate and junior Brandon Meier (Greenville, S.C.) finished third with his time of 45.05. The other competitor in the event was Riley Scruggs from Georgia who came in at 44.64.
The Eagles saw success on both sides of the event as the women saw similar success. Freshman Debora Xavier saw herself competing alongside some top-tier competition from Northern Colorado and Florida State in the women's 100-yard freestyle. Xavier swam and battled hard and came away with second place honors after turning in a time of 53.23.
Another male freshman, Chase Rayment (South Africa) was the victor in the men's 100-yard backstroke Sunday. He turned in the fifth fastest time in program history with his winning time of 49.48 over the other competitor in the event of Wesley Ng from Georgia.
Freshman Thanos Diamanditis (Greece) has only been an Eagle for a short time, but yet has been making his claim in the program's top 5. After taking the men's 100-yard breaststroke last night, Diamantidis staked his claim in the 200-yard breaststroke on Sunday. He finished second with a time of 2:00.08, which is now second fastest in program history and placed him among some top names in C-N swim history. Teammate Joey Clemmer (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) was third in the event as he came in at 2:04.73.
Freshman Nicolas Lenuza (Spain) made sure to claim his spot as a top swimmer as he submitted another top finish, this time in the men's 200-yard butterfly. He finished third in the event with a time of 1:54.48, making him a top-three finisher in both the 100 and 200-yard version of the event.
Senior CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) swam in the women's 100-yard butterfly but could not submit a time sufficient for the event finals, as she swam a 55.90 time in the prelims and secured the 11th place in that realm.
Junior Kodee Eads (Johnson City, Tenn.) was the lone competitor for the men's 400-yard individual medley and turned in a time of 4:04.76 in the finals, over two whole seconds faster than his prelim time of 4:06.79.
"Now we just wait a few days to see who will all get to race at Nationals," Taylor said.
The next step for C-N is to do as coach said: wait a few days and see which Eagles are invited to Birmingham, Ala. for DII National Championships.
Be sure to follow all things Carson-Newman swimming via cneagles.com and all social media accounts
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