JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- Carson-Newman swim is headed to open the regular season against the Emory & Henry Wasps this Friday, Oct. 6 at 6:00 p.m.
The Eagles will begin the regular season against the Wasps in the Emory & Henry Aquatics Center this Friday. The meet will take place in Emory, Va. and begin at 6:00 p.m. The Eagles raced the Wasps twice last season, taking home a victory in September (325-82) and December (327-74) of 2022.
"It's fun to go up there and race them," head swim coach Ben Young said. "It's always a really fun environment to be a part of, and they've got a solid facility there and a solid campus. They are right up the road from us, so it's a good way to start the season off and to get us racing."
This will be the second consecutive year that C-N swim will open the season against Emory & Henry. In last season's opening meet, the Eagles' raced in 22 events. The women placed first in 10 out of 11 events and swept the podium in three events including the 100 SC meter backstroke, 400 SC meter freestyle, and the 100 SC meter breaststroke. Returners Breanna Belcher (1:16.63), Antonia Sanint (1:18.07), and Mandi Chadwell (1:21.17) took part in the 100 breaststroke sweep for the Eagles, placing first, second, and third respectively. The men won gold in every event they competed in throughout the night. They also swept the podium in five out of the 11 events, including the 200 SC meter freestyle, 100 SC meter butterfly, 100 SC meter backstroke, 100 SC meter breaststroke, and 400 SC meter freestyle. Returner Alonso Castro Hablutzel placed first in both the 400 SC meter freestyle (4:19.37) and 800 SC meter freestyle (8:50.07).
"This meet is short course meters, so in the world of NCAA swimming, it doesn't necessarily mean too much, but again, it's fun to go up there and race them. It's not so much pressure because of the nature of the situation, and it's a good way to ease us into that mindset of racing," Young said.
The Eagles are coming off the eighth annual Blue v. Orange World Championships where the blue team grabbed a victory over orange with a final score of 192-161.
"The Blue v. Orange gives me a bit of a chance to sit back and watch a little more as opposed to being on the side of the pool deck truly coaching," Young said. "I loved the energy that both teams brought. We trained that morning, and we trained fairly hard that morning as well in order to look at a prelim/finals style meet. In the end, it was really just their willingness to get up and race. We aren't looking for world records or anything right now, but the fact that they were willing to get up, race, and compete against one another and with one another is more important than anything."
C-N ranked second in the South Atlantic Conference 2023-24 Swimming Preseason polls yesterday afternoon, Oct. 4. The Eagles fell short only to Wingate on both the men's and women's side of the voting.
"Especially with where we are at right now in the season, we will kind of push that poll aside and continue to work on our process. It's nice to be second, but that will hopefully continue to change over the next couple of years," Young said. "For us, it's the first official meet week. So, we're trying to get up, race, focus on the details, bring energy, and let other teams see what Carson-Newman is all about, especially early in the season."
The Eagles are heading into a season that spans over five months and extends further for those eligible for the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships in mid-March.
"It's the start. The main focus for us is that it is the start of a very grueling next seven or eight weeks. We've got fall break coming up, so we won't race the next weekend, but then we will race back-to-back, rolling right into mid-season against U-Indy. So, for us, it's going to be an opportunity for us to harp on the details and see where people are at. We want to continue to see that progress from week to week as we begin to gear up for mid-season," Young said.
Carson-Newman swim is heading to face-off with the Emory & Henry Wasps this Friday, Oct. 6. at 6:00 p.m. Stay up to date on cneagles.com.
