FORT MILL, S.C. – For the first time in program history, Carson-Newman Swimming were the winners of the men's 200-yd freestyle relay at the Conference Championships. This event marked one of three new school records set during night one of Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships as part of a ten-event filled evening. After day one, C-N currently sit at 3rd place for both men and women, with the women gathering 368 total points while the men have amassed 348.5 through one day of competition.
"Overall, amazing first day and start to the meet all around. We had an up-and-down morning during prelims but got our minds right heading into tonight's final to give it all we had." head Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "Everyone was stepping up at any event we needed and just went out with a "nothing to lose" mindset. For swimmers like Meredith and Racheld to set new personal best and school records, as well as have them stand tall in national light speaks volume to the dedication the whole team has shown this year."
Sophomore Rachel Peden (Boiling Springs, S.C.) turned in an impressive 10:02.05 which not only gave her a second-place finish for the overall event but gives her the new school record for the event. Peden now holds three of the top five times for this event in Carson-Newman history. That was only the beginning for school records now written in C-N history. Junior Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.) improved her 200-yard individual medley time to 2:01.18 which is now the new school record for that event. Finally, the men's 200 freestyle relay team of Nikita Puzevich (Belarus), Chad Andoljsek (Slovenia), Nicolas Lenuza (Spain), and Raphael Lima (Sao Paulo, Brazil) set the new standard when they came in at 1:19.12 to break the previous record from last years Conference Championships.
The Eagles also were able to gain a third-place finish in both the women's (1:43.31) and men's (1:32.04) 200-yard medley relay to start the night off. In the men's 1000-yard freestyle, freshman Denilson Cyprianos (Bulawayo, Matabeleland, Zimbabwe) gained not only a time of 9:21.45 which placed him in the top-10 for the event, but eventually landed him with the second-fastest time for C-N in the event.
"The men's 200-yd relay gave us hope as it is the first time we've won that event in program history over seven years." Taylor said. "Our team supported each other no matter what with loud cheering. Usually, first day is not our forte, but our resilience of our team shows that we want to make the most of our opportunities and tonight shows it. "
Another bright spot for the Eagles came when junior Matthew George (Manchester, England) gathered a third-place finish in the consolation side of the event. George came in a 1:50.86 which is now the fifth-fastest time for C-N program history. Finally, the other event which shined bright for the Eagles was the 50-yard freestyle. For the women, freshamn Chrisman Rand (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) came in at 23.74 which gained her a third place event finish. However, very shortly after, Rand's male counterpart Lima splashed up a 20.02 finish which holds the fourth fastest time in the event and was sufficient for Lima to gather a finish of tied for third alongside a Wingate competitor. The final event was kind to the Eagles who finished second in the women's 200-yard freestyle thanks to sophomore Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands), Ginn, freshman Kennadi King (Marietta, Ga.) and Rand.
"I'm just glad of our team coming out and showing what we can do as a program. It was pretty cool to see not only the many school records but to have multiple swimmers break into the overall top-5 for our program througout many events." Taylor said.
The whole Carson-Newman team will be back in action tomorrow, Feb. 19, starting at 10 a.m. with prelims for the second day of action. The event is being livestreamed by Queens University and the streaming link can be found at cneagles.com. Be sure to keep up with the Carson-Newman swim team on C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.
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