KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Day one of the University of Tennessee's Mid-Season Invitational wrapped up with the Carson-Newman men's and women's swim teams holding sixth place spots through their 12 events.
Facing the likes of Duke, North Carolina, Tennessee, Denver, Penn and Marshall, the Eagles are the lone Division II school in the three-day invitational.
The women's team recorded 44 points, edging out Marshall who has 41 points. The men's side sits behind North Carolina recording 60 points to the Tarheels 116.
"I am really pleased with the way day one has gone," Taylor exclaimed. "We are executing good races and learning from each swim. The meet is super-fast with all these D1 athletes here but we are proving that we can hang at this level. I'm really excited to see how the team performs tomorrow!"
Notable times for the men's C-N swim team included Caleb Howell and Jon Lancaster who both broke school records in the 200-yard individual medley during the prelims, and swam even faster during the evening event.
Howell (Easley, S.C.) recorded a time of 1:47.90 which puts the sophomore with the third best time in the nation.
Lancaster's (Ringgold, Ga.) time of 1:49.25 came in with the fifth best time in the country.
Chad Andoljsek and Josh Terrell also recorded lifetime best times in their respective events.
The freshman Andoljsek turned in a time of 20.42 in the 50-yard freestyle which put him 14th in the country.
Terrell, a native of Lawrence, Kan. collected a time of 1:51.80 in the 200-yard individually medley, coming in with the 18th best time in the nation.
In the men's 200-yard freestyle relay, Seth Hughes and Jonny Goss along with Lancaster and Andoljsek finished 10th at the meet with a time of 1.22.28. The time was good for 11th-best in all of Division II.
"All our relays were season best times for us," Coach Jordan Taylor mentioned. "From today alone, we have improved our national relay standings."
For the 400-yard medley relay, Hughes along with Andrei Roman, Ivo Kunzle and Marcelo Figueiredo finished with a time of 3:19.72, the eighth-best time in the nation.
The C-N women's team also posted season and lifetime best numbers throughout the evening.
Senior Maggie Melhorn finished the 200-yard individual medley with a season-best time of 2:05, which checks in as the 10th-best time in the nation.
Alex Nuyaines (2:09.34), Bethany McNabb (2:17.15) and Claudia Carroll (2:20.53) all posted lifetime bests in the morning swims.
Lisa Postma (Leiden, Holland) made it back to the finals in the 50-yard freestyle after a lifetime best time of 23.31 came in as the 6th best time this year.
In the same event, freshman Laurel Sankowski put together a lifetime best time of 24.04.
The Eagles remained strong in the medley events as they have all of 2017.
For the 200-yard freetyle relay, Margaret Stansberry, Elly Culp joined Sankowski and Postma to finish with the 5th best time in the country and ninth in the meet with a time of 1:33.65.
In the 400-yard medley relay, the team of Culp, Melhorn, Postma and Stansberry recorded the nation's fourth-best time at 3:46.76.
Day two of the UT Invitational at Allan Jones Aquatic Center will commence with the prelims at 11:00 a.m. following up with the next wave of events at 6:00 p.m.
-CN-