CHARLOTTE, N.C. - In a final attempt to get some student-athletes to the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships, coach Jordan Taylor and his program closed the 2018-19 campaign after competing in the Royal Open Last Chance Meet at the Levin Center the past two days.
Eagles swimmers will await their fate when the NCAA field is announced on Monday, February 25.
All athletes will await the weekend's results as roughly the top-26 times throughout the season in each individual event garner a place at nationals for women's athletes. On the men's side, the top-21 times provide the trip to one of the biggest stages in swimming.
With relay teams, at least one swimmer has to qualify for an individual event for the group to earn a spot at nationals.
Four women and three men represented C-N in 12 individual events through the four-day period last year, which marked a program-best in the number of selections. The group is in search of their fourth trip to nationals since its inception in 2013-14.
"We had some good times and some season best swims this weekend but we will have to see where we stand after everyone else is done racing," said Taylor. "There were some improvements in some events. Andre could possibly qualify for two events as a freshman so we are in good position for some of our swimmers but I'm looking forward to what we can do after the field is announced."
Some notable swims throughout the weekend in attempts to improve on the national rankings included freshman Andrei Ungur who earned the second-fastest time in program history in the 100-yard butterfly and first in the prelims, topping a time his brother previously set, touching the wall at 48.57 seconds. Ungur also turned in a season-best time in the 50 freestyle at 20.85 seconds to go along with a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley.
Jon Lancaster collected the top spot in the 200 IM prelim race checking in with a season-best time of 1:49.40, which sits the senior swimmer at No. 17 in the nation. His time of 1:50.54 in the finals was good enough for third-place.
Mary Northcutt earned first-place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.78 seconds in the 'A' finals after also earning the top spot in the prelim race with a time of 23.57, just .05 seconds than her fastest swim of the season. She currently sits at No. 30 in the nation in the event with teammates Elly Culp (23.34) at No. 17 and Lisa Postma (23.16) tied for seventh.
Stay tuned over the next 10 days to cneagles.com and our social media pages @CNAthletics when the NCAA releases the field for the 2019 NCAA Championships. You can view the current top times for each event at all levels here.
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