JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- Carson-Newman swim will face off against the Emory & Henry Wasps for the second time this season this Friday, Dec. 8 at 6:00 p.m.
The Eagles will host the Wasps this upcoming Friday, Dec. 8 in the Maddox Student Activity Center (MSAC) at 6:00 p.m. This will be the second time during the 2023-24 season that the two teams face off. The meet was originally scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 9 but has been moved to Friday, Dec. 8 for an evening start.
"The first meeting with Emory & Henry, obviously we were at the beginning of the season. We were fresh out of our first cycle. This is another opportunity for us to turn that corner and get back into racing right before the heart of our Christmas training," head swim coach Ben Young said.
The first time C-N swam against Emory & Henry this year was on Friday, Oct. 6 when the Eagles bested the Wasps 387-134 in Emory, Va. C-N placed first in each of the 28 events throughout the meet, and 12 different Eagles took home individual first-place finishes. A few standout performances came from Kyla Blakemore who found the top of the podium in the women's 100 (1:06.01) and 200 SC meter backstroke (2:21.36) and Kennadi King who grabbed a pair of first-place finishes in the 100 (1:00.99) and 200 SC meter freestyle (2:14.35) events. On the men's side of competition, Alonso Castro earned two first-place finishes. He won the 400 SC meter freestyle with a time of 4:21.89 and the 800 SC meter freestyle in 9:10.59. Arthur Gluzman also had two wins on the evening. He grabbed gold in the 100 SC meter butterfly (58.78) and 50 SC meter freestyle (23.88).
"Going up there and swimming short-course meters is a little bit different for us because we spend 95% of our season in short-course yards," Young said. "It'll be nice to be home and in our own pool. Coming off of finals and Thanksgiving break, we are looking forward to seeing some fast racing."
Emory & Henry women's swimming is 5-2 in dual meet competition, winning their last three head-to-head meets. The men's team is 1-6 against the same lineup but are coming off a dominant victory over Bethany College (189-14).
"As far as mentality goes, this is about getting back into the mode of racing prior to having another fairly long stint off of racing. We aren't back racing until the middle of January," Young said. "This is an opportunity for us to put one last little cap on the fall semester. Nobody is expecting to swim too fast, but for us, it is always about details and being willing to race. We want to focus on swimming with heart as opposed to being super worried about the time that comes up on the board."
The Eagles most recent meet was against the #1 ranked University of Indianapolis. C-N swim put up a strong fight but placed second with 1,806 points to the Greyhounds' 4,001. Chrisman Rand grabbed gold in the women's 50-yard freestyle in 23.99 and continued to impress with a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly in 57.32. Kennadi King grabbed gold during the last session. She placed first in the women's 100-yard freestyle in 51.69, reaching the NCAA B Standard for the event. Daniel de Oliveira grabbed gold in the men's 200-yard freestyle. He completed the race in 1:39.58. Daniel Ribeiro placed first in the men's 100-yard backstroke in 48.98.
"At U-Indy, the team was set up to swim season bests, and a lot of them did," Young said. "We swam well at U-Indy, not as fast as some of them would have liked, but from a coaching perspective, we swam right on par with where I figured we would. Moving forward, we just want to give them the opportunity to hone in on some of those details."
Carson-Newman swim is back in action this weekend as they host Emory & Henry on Friday, Dec. 8 at 6:00 p.m. Stay up to date on cneagles.com.
