LAWRENCE, K.S. – For the first time in two years, Carson-Newman swimming saw action to start the fall season as part of the CSCAA Open Water National Championships at Lone Star Lake in Lawrence, Kansas. The Eagles were led by junior Linda Ungerboeck (Vienna, Austria) on the women's side while sophomore Denilson Cyprianos (Bulawayo, Matabeleland, Zimbabwe) led the men's team with a top-five finish after all competition was completed.
Cyprianos was making his C-N fall debut as he joined the program after Christmas last season. He was able to gather fourth place on Friday with a finishing time of 1:00.57.3. The men's 5k was won by Zach Ondrej of Northern Michigan (56:10.6) followed by Enzo Kihara of Emmanuel College (1:00.13.2) and Samuewl Jyawook of Maryland Baltimore County (1:00.16.2).
As he finished in the men's top five, Cyprianos automatically qualifies for the United State Open Water National Championships in April of 2022. The event will take place from April 1-3, 2022 from Lynn Hall Park in Fort Myers Beach, Fla.
Meanwhile, for the women's 5k, C-N gathered another top-10 performance by Ungerboeck, as she competed in the event for the second time. The Austria native came in at 1:04:55.30 and was only 0.03 away from finishing in ninth as the hometown Jayhawk, Kara Church, came in at 1:04.55.0 ahead of the Eagle.
"Great performance from the team as we have come here every year since the event started. Every year we compete at a high level alongside some top talent at the Division I and Division II level," head coach Jordan Taylor said. "Everyone has come out of this event very pleased with themselves and the mood at the camp is very positive. Five out of the eight were swimming in their first open water event and very pumped they got through it and finished top half for their gender."
In her last time competing in 2019, Ungerboeck was competing for the first time as an Eagle and captured third in a photo finish as her and Texas A&M's Joy Field had to be separated with a finish line camera replay despite finishing with mere identical times.
Ungerbock was the top swimmer among all Division II competition, placing five spots ahead of her fellow junior teammate Rachel Peden (Boiling Springs, S.C.) who finished at 1:06.19.9 to help C-N capture the top two DII performances in the women's 5k.
Overall, the Eagles finished sixth on the women's side with 66 total points while the men's side came in at third with 22 points. The women's program finished as the highest-scoring Division II program for the fourth time from Lawrence.
"We've had some extra practice with these athletes as they have given up time to prepare for this event," Taylor said. "The results were phenonmeal in all eight athletes. Summer and Rebecca finished in their top half of the field in their first open water event. Girls finished sixth overall but were the highest Division II team to finish so it just shows the talent of this group. Both Nicolas and Jed in the top-20 swam great to help the guys get third overall."
For the women's side of competition, it was Nebraska taking first place followed by Rice and Purdue in second and third, respectively. Rounding out the top five of the women's 5k were Southern Illinois and Kansas.
The men's side was won by Northern Michigan followed by Emmanuel College and then C-N. Rounding out the top-five for the men's 5k were Ashland and Southern Illinois.
Junior Summer Osborne (Clearwater, Fla.) finished 41st on the women's side with a time of 1:09.33.1 while Rebecca Peden (Boiling Springs, S.C.) came in 45th place with her time of 1:09.50.2.
Senior Kodee Eads (Johnson City, TN) bested his 12th place finish in 2019 as he came in seventh on Friday at a time of 1:01.52.0. Since he finished top eight in the men's side, Eads was awarded as part of the event's award ceremony. Meanwhile, sophomore Jed Little (Anderson, S.C.) made his first official fall event debut for C-N, finishing in 11th place with a time of 1:02.05.0. Also making his C-N fall debut was sophomore Nicolas Lenuza (Spain) who rounded out the top-20 finishes for C-N and coach Taylor as the Spain native collected a 17th place finish and a time of 1:03.57.0.
"Exciting time all around. 5k last an hour but we as coaches were excited to see the athletes compete," Taylor said. "This sets the bar and standard for the season to come. The trash talk has been back-and-forth heading into the Blue v. Orange competition which I know will help us kick off the normal season for our team."
The Eagles are back in action for the fall next week as they compete in the annual Blue versus Orange Intra Squad Championships. This year's event will take place at the Maddox Student Center on Carson-Newman's campus in Jefferson City, Tennessee on Friday, September 24th, 2021.
Be sure to keep up with all of the action all season long across Carson-Newman's social media platforms.
