GREENSBORO, N.C.- Carson-Newman swim's Chrisman Rand and Daniel de Oliveira swept the 100-yard butterfly event during the second day of the SAC Men's & Women's Swimming Championships this evening, Feb. 15.
"Holy smokes, what a night," head swim coach Ben Young said. "We started out slow yesterday, and we didn't really look ready to enter a championship meet from a mentality standpoint. The challenge to the team last night was that we have to get up, get loud, and swim into finals. If you have a lane, you have a chance, and you can see from the results that the team took that to heart heading into today".
Rand won gold in the women's 100-yard butterfly in 55.30 seconds during today's second session of swimming. Rand grabbed an NCAA DII "B" cut with her performance and bested her fastest time in the event by over two seconds. Kyla Blakemore placed third in the event in 56.24, and teammate Martina Ivanova finished fourth in 56.78.
"For the women, the swimmer of the session was definitely Chrisman," Young said. "It was a massive swim for her, and it will be right on that bubble for nationals. It was insane, and I'm proud to see such a big swim for her".
On the men's side of the 100 fly, de Oliveira stood first on the podium with a 46.91-second swim. De Oliveira broke the SAC Swimming Championship meet record with his performance. The record was previously set by Wingate's Viacheslav Ohnov in 2023. Daniel Ribeiro grabbed third in the event in 48.08, and Arthur Gluzman placed fourth in 48.21. All three Eagles swam NCAA DII "B" cut times during the race.
"Daniel is the first swimmer in program history to go 46 seconds in the 100 fly. He set the team record, and the way he swam that race was really impressive," Young said. "It was an electric race. Then, he turned around and placed second in the 200 free. He even swam in the relay that was so close to running down Wingate. Overall, just an absolutely incredible night from him".
In the 400-yard IM, Makayla Young finished fifth in 4:36.58. Asger Hartvig rounded out the top-5 for the men in 4:03.88.
"I'm proud of all of our swimmers today," Young said. "We had a great morning session, and the energy was just incredible from the start of the meet to the finish".
Kennadi King grabbed bronze in the women's 200-yard freestyle with an NCAA DII "B" cut time of 1:51.18. De Oliveira made another mark on the meet with his second-place finish in the event. He finished the race in 1:38.51, another DII "B" cut time.
The Eagles finished the second day of the SAC Swimming Championships with second-place finishes in the 400-yard medley relay. Breanna Belcher, Blakemore, Rand, and King swam for the women, finishing second in 3:44.25. For the men, Ribeiro, de Oliveira, Gluzman, and Hartvig grabbed silver in 3:12.58.
Carson-Newman men's swim ended the second day of the 2024 SAC Men's & Women's Swimming Championships in third place with 603 points. The women moved up to second place with 721 points after the second day of competition.
"All in all, the energy was fantastic," Young said. "We are most certainly looking to carry that momentum into tomorrow. We have a close meet on both sides, so it is pedal to the metal from here on out".
The third day of the SAC Swimming Championships are set to begin tomorrow, Feb. 16 at 10:00 a.m. Stay up to date on cneagles.com.
