KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman swim team capped off day three of the Tennessee Invitational by piling on more season and personal best times, positioning the squad to move up the national ranks and springing multiple Eagles to qualify for the NCAA National Championships in March.
The women entered the weekend ranked 5th in the nation while the men were tabbed 8th overall. It is quite possible that their performance this weekend will elevate their national ranking going forward.
"Overall, the Tennessee Invitational was exactly what I was looking for," Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "To surround ourselves with amazing teams and athletes and to see our athletes rise to the challenge and get great swims from our team was great. We are in a great place and there were a lot of highlights over the three days. Our top-five all-time record board got smashed. The team and the coaching staff loved the opportunity to be at this meet."
On the men's side of the 100-yard freestyle, Igor Dantas continues to be a pivotal part of this year's Eagles squad. Saturday morning saw Dantas swim a prelims time of 43.33, which is now the third-fastest event time in program history. This is now Dantas' third top-five time in program history from the UT Invitational.
His prelims time sat as the second-fastest event time, but that all changed once Dantas hit the pool for Saturday's 'A' finals. For the second time in three days, Igor Dantas is now a Carson-Newman swimming program record holder as he breaks Raphael Lima's time of 43.27 from the 2021 Nationals with a new record time of 43.14 and a fifth-place overall finish for the event.
As he finished in the event's top five, Dantas not only gathered another program record for his name but was able to defeat Division I opponents from South Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia in the process.
In the women's 100-yard freestyle prelims, junior Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands) swam a time of 50.68. This is now the fifth-fastest event time in program history and positions Compagner with three of the event's top five times for an Eagle.
Compagner would go on to swim in the 'D' finals for the event as she collected another top-five program time with her finish of 51.15. This is the second-fastest event time for an Eagle as Compagner now holds the second, third, and fifth fastest event times since becoming an Eagle.
The Eagles piled on the top five program times as junior Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.) added her name to the board in the women's 200-yard breaststroke. After swimming a prelims time of 2:16.28, Morgan would beat that time as she swam a finals time of 2:15.23 which is now the second-fastest event time for an Eagle.
Morgan was able to overcome teammate Meredith Ginn's two Nationals times in the event as she qualifies for Nationals later this season with her Saturday night time.
On the men's side of the 200-yard breaststroke, it was senior Joey Clemmer (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) taking to the pool as he looked to notch another top-five time for himself. His prelims time of 2:00.75 qualified Clemmer for the 'B' finals as he would go out and come in at 2:00.40, setting his second top-five program time in the event as he now is the holder of the third and fourth fastest event times.
Clemmer would be joined in the program top five for the event by sophomore Thanos Diamanditis (Athens, Greece). After securing a top-five-time last season in the event, the Greece native swam a finals time of 1:59.44 on Saturday to claim the second-fastest time by an Eagle and become only the second Eagle to swim a sub-two minute event alongside record holder Caleb Howell.
"The meet highlighted the things we are doing well and also showed us what we need to improve moving forward," Taylor said. "There were so many positives to take away from the meet and with all the lifetime best, season bests and school records I feel the team is confident and excited moving forward to the next half of the season. I am very interested to see the national rankings when they get updated next week both for individuals and for teams."
This was the last event of the fall season for the team. The Eagles next take part in an official event on Jan. 15, 2022, in a dual-meet against Emory & Henry from the MSAC in Jefferson City, Tennessee.
Be sure to keep up with the Eagles swim team all season long on cneagles.com.
