LAWRENCE, Kan – The Carson-Newman men's swim team turned in a second place finish, while the women's team came in fourth on Saturday at the CSCAA Open Water Championships at Lone Star Lake in Lawrence, Kansas.
"I was really impressed with both our teams," Swimming Coach Jordan Taylor said. "We performed way beyond my expectations. Our swimming was awesome. A lot our student-athletes haven't been in an event like this and they fought for every second."
Sophomore Marcelo Figueiredo's (Porto Alegre, Brazil) second place finish led the way for the men's team with a time of 1:01:07.28 behind only Stanislas Raczynski of Emmanuel College and his 1:01:06.43. Sophomore Josh Winn placed eighth for C-N at 1:04:26.16, while Jon Lancaster's 1:07:10.03 put him 17th and Carson Knox finished 18th, with a mark of 1:07:30.27.
"It was crazy to have such a long race decided by that small a margin," Taylor said. "Both of the top two finishers set a fantastic pace. Marcelo swam a really smart race."
The team as a whole placed second, posting a time of 3:12:43, behind the University of Cincinnati's 3:09:29. Division I Saint Louis's time of 3:14:46 earned them third place, while Oklahoma Baptist University came in fourth and Colorado School of Mines rounded out the top five.
The women's team was led by freshman Leah Allen (Aranda, Australia), who finished sixth after swimming a time of 1:06:38.73. Freshman Regina Zipperer's 1:10:25.00 was good enough for 17th, while junior Margaret Stansberry finished 19th at 1:11:01.59. Junior Lexy Raybon's 1:11:40.68 put her 21st and senior Nancy Claire Smith's 1:12:35.25 placed her 24th.
The squad's group time of 3:28:09.32 was fourth best out of eight teams. The event was won by the host school, the University of Kansas and their mark of 3:17:20.99. Rice University put together a time of 3:20:24.06 for second place and Cincinnati's 3:25:23.75 earned them third. Saint Louis University finished one spot behind C-N with a time of 3:33:50.93.
"This was a big confidence booster," Taylor said. "We went into this without any idea how we'd fair against these schools. We competed really well against the Division I schools. A lot of people at the event hadn't heard of Carson-Newman before, but we got a lot of congratulations afterward."
The Carson-Newman swim teams will be back in Jefferson City for an inter-squad meet on September 30th before welcoming Limestone to town on October 15th for their first dual meet of the season. Details on both events can be found on cneagles.com.
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