Video: Jordan Taylor Interview
Video: Meredith Ginn Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, T.N. – Team Orange now holds the 3-2 series advantage in the annual Blue v. Orange meet for Carson-Newman Swimming. Friday night saw the Orange squad win 214-206 including a 122-88 victory on the men's side of competition. The Blue squad was able to squeak out a 118-92 team victory on the women's side to wrap up the night.
The event was an inter-squad meet in which C-N teammates battled it out in dual-meet format. The Eagles ran a total of 22 races consisting of four relay events and 18 individual swims.
"Overall, the atmosphere was amazing with plenty of fun swimming. Main concern is how tired the team is after a prideful event," Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "People stepped up from top to bottom. To have the atmosphere we have tonight, it truly helps as we rest up and continue swimming."
Things kicked off with a 400-yard freestyle relay for the women which was won by the Orange team in a time of 3:30.15. Meredith Ginn started off Orange team 'A' with her fast time and never looked back after the event started. The men followed at the same distance with Orange sweeping (men's and women's) the 400-yd freestyle relay in 3:03.89 with Raphael Lima taking the charge for Orange team 'A' on the mens side.
The highlights of the night came in the elusive 100 individual medley, an event only seen on occasions like tonight. In the women's 100 IM, Meredith Ginn came in at 57.55 which is now a school record and was just about 2 whole seconds ahead of second place Kailee Morgan. On the men's side of the 100 IM, Lima continued his quick and historic season by setting his second school record with a time of 50.32, just about 4 seconds ahead of second-place Joey Clemmer.
"Getting this record is something I've been working toward since freshman year, so getting it tonight means a lot." Ginn said. "I love this meet each and every year and the atomsphere is electric and chaotic even in the week prior between teams. I'm really happy to see where we are and how we'll continue our season. We continue to put our minds to success and achieving it."
The men were outstanding on both teams, but none stood out more completely than Matthew George (Manchester, England). George was the anchor for the second-place men's 400 yd freestyle relay which finished in 3:04.02, came in second to Lima in the men's 200-yd freestyle in 1:43.56, collected a top-three finish in the men's 100-yd backstroke with a time of 52.91, another second-place finish in the men's 100-yd butterfly in 51.48, and a solid 4:45.77 victory in the men's 500 yd freestyle.
The other standout female swimmer on the night was senior CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) who led the Blue women's team to a 118-92 victory over Orange. Jensen took home victories in the women's 400-yd IM (4:26.01), second in the women's 100-yd backstroke in 56.83, and a third-place finish in the women's 100-yd butterfly in 58.97. Jensen topped off her night being the starter for the women's 200-yd medley relay team which took second with a time of 1:45.68.
"We had many personal and lifetime bests tonight. We've hit a high right now and we'll start to rest up as we get closer to Conference. Our team will have to step up next week to beat Emmanuel," Taylor said. "We're only getting faster from here and we will continue getting faster as we close out the season."
Next up, the Eagles will stay in the Volunteer State as they host the Emmanuel College Lions on Saturday, January 30th at 1:00 p.m inside the MSAC.
Be sure to keep up with C-N swim all across Carson-Newman social media platforms.
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