ATLANTA, Ga. – The Emory Invitational has come and gone for Carson-Newman swimming as the Eagles finished their time at the two-day event with 20 events Saturday. Both men's and women's captured third place as they finished behind first place and host school, Emory, and fellow Bluegrass Mountain Conference foe, Wingate, who claimed second on both sides.
The women's team for the Eagles finished with 396 points while the men's team was able to finish their two days of action with 454 points. After capturing five individual event victories on Friday, the Eagles saw a pair of individual victories as well as a sleuth of top-five finishes throughout all of Saturday's action.
To start off the second day of action, the women's 200-yard medley relay quartet of Kyla Blakemore (Durban, South Africa), Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.), Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands), and Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.) captured second with a time of 1:44.14.
Not only is this the fourth fastest time for the event in DII women's swimming, but was part of a close battle between second and third as C-N finished 0.01 seconds ahead of third place Wingate.
The men's 200-yard medley relay quartet of Nikita Puzevich (Belarus), Thanos Diamanditis (Athens, Greece), Nicolas Lenuza (Spain), and Igor Dantas (Indaiatuba, Brazil) claimed fifth place in a time of 1:32.56, the 14th fastest event time for DII men's swimming.
"Very proud of the team going out there and competing this weekend, especially with everything going on and how our fall has gone. We knew we would face tough competition in Emory and Wingate," head coach Jordan Taylor said. "Emory and Wingate are really good programs but we stuck in there and heard our name said a lot in all events."
Looks like there is no stopping Kailee Morgan when it comes to the breaststroke event. After claiming the women's 100-yard breaststroke on Friday, Morgan finished the event sweep on Saturday as she won the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:17.84. Morgan now holds the third and fourth fastest times in the event with her times from the two-day event.
For the second straight day, Igor Dantas can call himself an event winner in the freestyle for the Eagles. After capturing the men's 100-yard freestyle Friday, the Brazil native doubled up his event victories with a time of 1:39.37 to win the men's 200-yard freestyle Saturday. The Brazil native can now claim the sixth and eighth-fastest times for the event after his performances in Atlanta.
Joining his teammate in the top five for the men's 200-yard freestyle, Matthew George (Manchester, England) gathered fifth for the event with his time of 1:41.34. This is the 25th fastest event time for DII men's swimming.
The women's 1650-yard freestyle has been one of junior Rachel Peden (Boiling Springs, S.C.)'s strongest events in her Eagles career. Saturday would be no different as she claimed second in the event behind Kate Agger of Wingate as Peden finished in a time of 17:28.89. This is the second-fastest event time for DII women's swimming.
Building upon his victory in the men's 200-yard backstroke on Friday, Denilson Cyprianos (Bulawayo, Matabeleland, Zimbabwe) took home a second-place finish in the men's 100-yard backstroke on Saturday. He was mere inches from sweeping the event as he finished in a time of 49.93 Saturday, the 13th fastest time in DII men's swimming.
Manon Compagner was in action for C-N in the women's 100-yard butterfly Saturday. The Netherlands native captured her second third-place in an individual event as she came in a time of 55.99 on Saturday, the fifth-fastest event time for all DII women's swimming.
In the men's 50-yard freestyle, Nikita Puzevich built upon his impressive outing at the event with a fourth-place finish with his time of 20.81, the 24th fastest event time in DII men's swimming. The Belarus native was only 0.30 seconds away from making a top-three placement for the event as third place finished in a time of 20.78.
Senior CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) captured third for the Eagles in the women's 400-yard IM on Saturday in a time of 4:30.77. This places Jensen with the eighth-fastest event time for DII women's swimming.
The men's 100-yard butterfly saw a top-five finish on the men's side, thanks to Nicolas Lenuza. After finishing third in the 200-yard butterfly on Friday, Lenuza finished fourth in the 200-yard version of the event after coming in at a time of 49.09 Saturday. This places Lenuza with the eighth-fastest event time for DII men's swimming.
"Overall, very solid team performance in relays and individual events. We still have some things to brush up on as we continue preparing for the UT Invitational," Taylor said. "Very positive overall as we heard and saw Carson-Newman a lot over the event as well as had all the athletes supporting each other constantly."
To conclude the event, C-N took to the pool for the men's and women's 400-yard freestyle relay events.
The women's team finished second thanks to a finish of 3:32.58 by the quartet of Manon Compagner, Summer Osborne (Clearwater, Fla.), Chrisman Rand (Mount Pleasant, S.C.), and Meredith Ginn. The time posted by the quartet is now the eighth-fastest relay time for the event in DII women's swimming this season.
The women's team also saw another top-five finish in the event as a time of 3:35.23 by Debora Xavier (Sao Paulo, Brazil), CJ Jensen, Lilly Parr, and Anna Tudor (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) was sufficient for fourth place. This is the 14th fastest event time in DII women's swimming.
Then, the men's team wrapped up C-N's time in the pool with a victorious time of 3:01.14 by the quartet of Igor Dantas, Matthew George, Hobson Stelling (Memphis, Tenn.), and Nicolas Lenuza. The quartet were able to finish a clear two seconds ahead of second place finishing relay team from Emory. This is the fourth-fastest relay event time in DII men's swimming.
The Eagles now look ahead to a dual meet against the Bobcats of Lees-McRae later this week as they near their penultimate event of the fall season, the UT Invitational in a couple weeks. Be sure to keep up with the Carson-Newman swim team all season long on C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.
