JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- For the first time in the new year, Carson-Newman Swimming is back into action this Saturday. The Eagles welcome in the Emory & Henry Wasps for a first-ever dual meet style matchup between the two programs at 1 p.m. from the MSAC pool in Jefferson City, Tennessee.
Prior to Saturday, the Eagles and Wasps have squared off in two previous season (2014-15 and 2015-16), but only on the women's side of competition. Both previous occurences have taken place as part of a tri-meet between C-N, E&H, and King (Tenn.). In the latest installment (2015-16 season) then number 17th-ranked women notched the 143-62 victory over the Wasps as the Eagles won 21 of the 22 events swam. In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, C-N women's knocked off Emory & Henry 120-85 in 2014-15, winning eight of the 11 events.
Flash forward to this year, both C-N men's and women's teams still hold a spot in the national top 20, as women's are ranked ninth nationally with the men's team coming in at 14th . Saturday marks the first dual meet competition for the nationally ranked Eagles since November 13 when they hosted the Lees-McRae Bobcats, taking the 312-169 overall with victories on both men's and women's side of competition.
The last time C-N was in action overall was as part of the UT Invitational from Knoxville, Tenn. as the program was able to set three new school records as well as have multiple athletes swim top-five program times and set new lifetime bests over the three-day event. While competing in Knoxville, the Eagles saw competition against some formidable Division I-opposition in Tennessee, Alabama, UNLV, South Carolina, and Virginia.
"To surround ourselves with amazing teams and athletes and to see our athletes rise to the challenge and get great swims from our team was great," Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "We are in a great place and there were a lot of highlights over the three days. Our top-five all-time record board got smashed. The team and the coaching staff loved the opportunity to be at this meet."
On the men's side of the 100-yard freestyle, Igor Dantas continues to be a pivotal part of this year's Eagles squad. Saturday morning saw Dantas swim a prelims time of 43.33, which is now the third-fastest event time in program history. This would be Dantas' third top-five time in program history from the UT Invitational.
His prelims time sat as the second-fastest event time, but that all changed once Dantas hit the pool for Saturday's 'A' finals. For the second time in three days, Igor Dantas is now a Carson-Newman swimming program record holder as he breaks Raphael Lima's time of 43.27 from the 2021 Nationals with a new record time of 43.14 and a fifth-place overall finish for the event. Dantas also broke the school record in the men's 50-yard freestyle with a time of 19.72.
As part of his record-breaking performances, Dantas gathered a higher finish than opponents from Division I programs such as South Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia in the process.
Dantas was joined in the record books by fellow teammate Nicolas Lenuza (Spain). After only being 0.02 away from breaking the record in the men's 100-yard butterfly prelims, Lenuza overtook Andrei Ungur's 2020 time of 47.71 as he swam a finals time of 47.65 to finish 11th and call himself the new program record holder in the event. Lenuza was not only able to set the record but do so against some quality Division I opposition from Tennessee, Virginia, UNLV, and South Carolina.
"The meet highlighted the things we are doing well and also showed us what we need to improve moving forward," Taylor said. "There were so many positives to take away from the meet and with all the lifetime best, season bests and school records I feel the team is confident and excited moving forward to the next half of the season."
The Eagles are ready to get into action tomorrow as they jump into 2022 action versus the Wasps at 1:00 Saturday afternoon from the MSAC.
Be sure to keep up with the C-N swim team all season long on all of Carson-Newman's social media platforms and at cneagles.com.
