Video: Jordan Taylor Interview
Video: Matthew George Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, T.N. – The 2021 rendition of the Blue versus Orange meet for Carson-Newman Swimming has come and gone, as team Blue rebounded after last years' efforts and tie the series at three apiece. In Friday's main action, Blue took home the 245-165 combined score victory, including sweeping both the men's and women's side of action.
The men's action on Friday belonged to Blue as they swam their way to a 131-74 thumping of Orange. Meanwhile, the women's side was closely competitive all night long, but Blue pulled away late to take the 114-91 victory.
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.
"It was great to see the teams competing tonight as you and I talked about, this event helps those athletes to get back into the habit of competitive swimming. Every race was tight and was closely contested even if the scores don't really reflect that," Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "We talked about who would step up and help their team to compete and I think both sides show maximum effort out of everyone tonight. I think it gives us as coaches a tough challenge for who to pick in upcoming meets, but that's a good issue to have."
Things kicked off with a 400-yard freestyle relay for the women which was won by the Orange team in a time of 3:32.04. Junior Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands) was the starting piece for the winning relay as she helped Orange get off to a quick start in points.
In the men's 400-yard freestyle relay, it was Blue taking first place after their team 'A' came in at 3:04.09. They were led by sophomore Carson Jones (Southaven, Miss.) who started the relay off along with teammates senior Matthew George (Manchester, England), senior Brandon Meier (Greenville, S.C.), and sophomore Nicolas Lenuza (Spain).
At the first meet break following the meet's first six events, it was Blue leading the way as they held the 71-39 event. The men's team for Blue held a commanding 43-12 advantage over Orange. Meanwhile, the women's side of action was a tad closer as Blue held the slime 28-27 advantage at the first break.
The same would stay the same after 12 events came and went. At the second break, Blue led the overall matchup 141-83. At that break, Blue led both men's and women's once again as the men led 76-36 and women's led 65-47.
"It's always nice to see the freshman competing and getting joined into the team atmosphere we try to have. I think tonight was very competitive in every race, but it shows that no matter who you face or where you are, dual meets are going to be fast-paced and tightly contested," Matthew George said. "Now, we're able to push ahead past tonight and come together as one whole team. We want to cheer each other to success and I think a meet like the one against Wingate is a great place to start."
The men were outstanding on both teams, but none stood out more completely than senior Matthew George (Manchester, England). Along with being part of the winning men's 400-yard freestyle relay, George also won the men's 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:46.99.
George then continued his success with an individual win in the men's 500-yard freestyle. His time of 4:45.82 was not only able to help secure another nine points on the scoreboard for Blue, but finished just one second ahead of Orange team's sophomore Jed Little (Anderson, S.C.)
For the women's Blue team, it was senior captain CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) leading the charge as they came away with a narrow 23 point victory over Orange. In Friday's action, Jensen started her night off with a second-place effort in the women's 400-yard IM in a time of 4:40.66. This captured four points for Blue as they went into the first break only ahead by one point.
Jensen also captured a second-place finish in the rare women's 100-yard IM as she finished in a time of 1:01.81. She was only beaten out by Orange's Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.) who finished with a time of 56.78. Finally, Jensen was able to be apart of the second-place women's 200-yard medley relay to end the night.
Alongside teammates junior Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.), sophomore Chrisman Rand ( ), and freshman Lilly Parr (Knoxville, Tenn.), the quartet finished with another four points in a time of 1:46.69.
"It was just really nice to see everyone go out there and compete tonight with everything they had," Jensen said. "One thing I've enjoyed and continue to see in my time here is the closeness of the program and how we are there for each other no matter what. We may challenge one another but we want Carson-Newman Swimming to be showcased and I'm excited to see how this season plays out for our program and team."
Next up, the Eagles will start the necessary preparation for a huge Bluegrass Conference meet against the Wingate Bulldogs on October 22 and 23 from Wingate, North Carolina.
In all of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference, it has been the Eagles and Bulldogs claiming two out the top three spots alongside Queens (N.C.). They will meet for the first time in a dual-meet since their The Eagles and Bulldogs have consistently been in the top three for the last five years, so this meet will be a good test for Taylor's squad as they continue their fall season.
"Going to Wingate will be a hostile environment as it always is, but we enjoy facing Wingate because we want to continue challenging ourselves to be the best we can," Taylor said. "Hopefully, we continue building upon what we have seen in the last two weekends and once everyone is back together, we hit the ground running preparing for Wingate"
Be sure to keep up with C-N swim all across Carson-Newman social media platforms.
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