GREENSBORO, N.C. – For the first time in program history, Carson-Newman swimming will send double digit athletes to the NCAA DII Swimming and Diving Championships. This year, the Eagles will send 17 athletes to Greensboro, N.C. from March 9-12 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
This marks the program's seventh trip to nationals in its nine-year history. Heading into the four-day event, C-N stands at 10th in DII for the women while the men come in at 14th in the latest CSCAA poll.
"It highlights the depth of our program yet again," Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "It's really hard to qualify for nationals. To have this number of our athletes rank with the best in the country and get invited is awesome. Overall, it just continues to show that our program gets better and better every year and that we're building on the success we have had in the past."
The Eagles have a total of five male swimmers who qualified individually as they will be joined by three other male athletes who will compete strictly in relay events. Meanwhile, for the women's swimming program, C-N will send six athletes as individual qualifiers and two more for strictly relays.
Starting with the men, sophomore Thanos Diamanditis (Athens, Greece) heads into Nationals with three top-five program times. His time of 55.10 in the men's 100-yard breaststroke is the fifth-fastest event time. Most notably, the Greece native holds the second (1:59.44) and third (2:00.08) fastest event times in the men's 200-yard breaststroke.
The next male qualifier to highlight is Henrique Pacheco. Pacheco joined C-N this spring and wasted no time in making an immediate impact at the 2022 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships. As part of a third-place finish for C-N, the freshman set four new top-five program times. Over two days of competition in Charlotte, he set new a pair of top-five program times in the 200-yard IM on day one before coming back out and cementing top-five times in the 400-yard IM.
Heading into Greensboro, Pacheco holds the fourth (1:50.44) and fifth (1:50.50) fastest 200-yard IM times for CNSW. Meanwhile, in the 400-yard IM, he set the fourth (3:55.89) and fifth (3:57.56) times in the 2022 BMC Championships. However, he was not done there as the freshman went out and now holds the second fastest 400-yard IM time of 3:53.96, which he set in the Royal Open last weekend.
Sophomore Nicolas Lenuza (Spain) had his break-out performance in the UT Invitational as part of a three-day recording break outing for CNSW. After fellow Eagle, Igor Dantas, cemented his legacy in the record books, Lenuza joined the party as he set the new program record in the men's 100-yard butterfly. After only being 0.02 away from breaking the record in the prelims, Lenuza defeated opposition from Tennessee, Virginia, UNLV, and South Carolina as he swam a finals time of 47.65 to finish 11th and call himself the new program record holder in the event.
Lenuza heads into Greensboro with four of the top-five times in the men's 100-yard butterfly as well as holding the second (1:49.77) and fifth (1:51.67) fastest times in the men's 200-yard butterfly.
"He is a really talented athlete and really engaged since he showed up to campus," Taylor said. "To watch his continual development in the skills of starts, turns and transitions. In his races, we knew what he was capable of and that he could swim fast but because of tuning his attention and capability, he's been able to get everything out of his results races and has been able to develop very quickly."
Rounding out the young guns heading to Nationals for C-N is freshman Hobson Stelling (Memphis, Tenn.). Stelling had a coming-out party against the Lees-McRae Bobcats as he won the men's 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 58.79 seconds. The Memphis, Tenn. native then gathered his second win of the day with a time of 46.49 in the men's 100-yard freestyle.
So far in his debut season, Stelling has set three personal bests in the men's 50-yard, 100-yard, and 200-yard freestyle. His time of 20.16 in the 50 free sits as the 38th fastest time in all DII this season. With a time of 43.89 in the 100-yard freestyle, Stelling is the 22nd fastest for the event in DII. Finally, in the 200-yard free, it is a personal best time of 1:39.13 for Stelling.
The Memphis native has also played a massive role in the relay success for C-N, including being a member of the program record 200-yard medley relay. Joining Stelling on the program record relay was Nikita Puzevich, Asger Hartvig, and Nicolas Lenuza as the quartet set the time at the 2022 BMC Championships.
The final male individual qualifier for C-N at the 2022 Nationals is Igor Dantas. Dantas came to C-N as a transfer from Emmanuel College and lived up to every expectation set by coaches and his peers. Much like his fellow Eagle, Nicolas Lenuza, Igor broke out at the UT Invitational as he set two new program records.
First, in the men's 50-yard freestyle, Dantas swam a time of 19.72 which set a new program record and he was not done there. His 19.72 finals time currently sits as the 11th fastest event time in DII swimming.
Only a couple nights later, the Brazil native swam in the finals of the men's 100-yard freestyle. As he took to the pool once more, Dantas broke Raphael Lima's 2021 time of 43.27 as he set his second program record time with his finals time of 43.14. This is the 5th fastest event time in DII swimming this season.
"It was a school record by Igor as well as a lifetime best and qualifies him for Nationals as he is currently ranked number one in the country for the event which is awesome," head coach Jordan Taylor said.
The Eagles will also send Matthew George (Manchester, England), Asger Hartvig (Hoersholm, Denmark), Logan Ridge McCay, and Nikita Puzevich (Belarus) to Greensboro for sole relay purposes.
On the women's side, six athletes qualified individually while a pair of Eagles will see action in relays only.
Junior Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.) has been a menace and force to be reckoned with in the breaststroke event. Her most dominant performance came at the 2022 BMC Championships as she took the top prelims finish in the 100-yard breast with the fourth-fastest time in CNSW history (1:01.53). However, in the event finals, Morgan would break a four-year-old program record as place herself as the fastest 100-yard breaststroke swimmer with a new program record of 1:00.89.
The new program record for Morgan also broke a BMC record in the process as well, formerly held by former Eagle Maggie Melhorn.
Heading into Nationals, Morgan has seven top-five times across the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. Beyond her program record, Morgan sits with the third, fourth, and fifth fastest times in the 100-yard breaststroke. The junior also holds the second, third, and fifth fastest times in the 200-yard breaststroke as she will look to further her C-N legacy in a couple weeks.
Junior Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands) takes to the national stage for the third straight season as an Eagle. At the UT Invitational this season, Compagner swam to a finals time of 51.15 in the women's 100-yard freestyle. This time positions her with the second-fastest event time in CNSW history as the Netherlands native now holds the second, third, and fifth fastest event times since becoming an Eagle.
Senior Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.) once again was a firm foundation for Carson-Newman women's swimming this year as she will return to the Nationals stage once more. At last year's Nationals, Ginn garnered an All-American honor in the women's 200-yard breaststroke, was a member of the All-American women's 200-yd medley, 400-yd medley, and 800-yd freestyle relays, and set the new school record in the women's 400-yard IM (which still stands) at 4:16.48.
So far this season, Ginn has made some notable appearances across many of C-N's meets. As part of the UT Invitational, the senior made a splash as she turned in a time of 2:03.28 in the women's 200-yard IM, the 19th fastest DII event time this season. Ginn also turned in the 24th fastest women's 400-yard IM time at the 2022 BMC Championships as she came in at 4:24.60.
Ahead of making the trip to Greensboro, Ginn sits with five top five times across the 200 breast, 200 IM, and 400 IM.
No stranger to the bright lights of Nationals is one of the most consistent performers in CNSW history: CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark). In last year's Nationals, she capped a historic 2021 NCAA championship meet with six All-America swims. Even after last year's performance and all of this year's meet, Jensen still holds four of the five fastest times in program history in the 200 butterfly. She saved her best performance in the 200 fly for nationals where her school record two minute, point 5-6 second time helped her to the finals and a fourth place finish in the event.
This season, the senior added another event win to her illustrious C-N resume. In the 2022 BMC Championships, Jensen swam a time of 2:02.89, the 19th fastest event time in DII. Also at the event, she swam the 45th fastest time in the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.13. At the UT Invitational, Jensen swam a time of 4:27.60 in the 400 IM, the 43rd fastest event time in DII.
Heading into this year's Nationals, Jensen maintains 13 top-five event times, including the program record in the 200 fly (2:00.56) and 200 back (2:01.71). Jensen also holds four of the top-five times in the women's 200 butterfly, and three of the top-five times in the women's 200 IM and 400 IM.
"We know what this event and these days mean for our program as we work toward our goal of winning and competing at Nationals against fellow BMC powerhouses like Wingate and Queens," Taylor said. "We know what we are facing and seeing, but our ability to constantly be on the Nationals stage allows us to be seen as a top Division II swimming program."
Making her first appearance on the national stage for C-N will be sophomore Kyla Blakemore (Durban, South Africa). The 2022 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships was an outstanding four-day effort for the sophomore as she set multiple top-50 DII times.
First, Blakemore swam a time of 55.68 in the women's 100-yard backstroke, tied for the 21st fastest event time in DII this season. She also would swim a top-40 time in the women's 200-yard back at the BMC Championships as she came in at 2:01.84, the 33rd fastest time in DII.
The South Africa native also came in with a time of 25.73 in the 50-yard backstroke during the 2022 BMC Championships, 14th fastest event time in DII.
The final Eagle who qualified individually is junior Rachel Peden. The Boiling Springs, N.C. native competed in last year's Nationals as well as she helped the Eagles finish ninth overall in all of Division II with 186 total team points. This matches the best every overall team performance for C-N at Nationals.
This year, Peden has continued to dominate the long-distance events as she made her mark across various events this season. With a time trial at the UT Invitational, Peden swam a time of 4:58.58 in the women's 500-yard freestyle, the 28th fastest event time in DII this year.
Closer to home, Peden has set the third-fastest 500-yard freestyle time for C-N with her time of 5:02.21 at the 2022 BMC Championships.
Then, at the 2022 BMC Championships, it was the 1000-yard freestyle where Peden secured another top DII time as her time of 10:21.78 sits as the 38th fastest event time this season. This is also the fourth fastest time for an Eagle in program history.
It is the 1650-yard freestyle which sees the highest placement for Peden as she swam a time of 17:11.32 at the UT Invitational, the 20th fastest event time this season.
The Eagles will also send Kennadi King (Marietta, Ga.) and Summer Osborne (Clearwater, Fla.) to Greensboro for sole relay purposes.
"I know that C-N swim alumni and fans are going to see how fast this team can be and how much we need each other when it comes to the big stage of Nationals next week," Taylor said.
The Eagles will also see action in the men's 200 medley, 400 medley, 200 free, 400 free, and 800 free relays. On the women's side, the Eagles qualify for the 200 medley, 200 freestyle, and 400 medley relays.
The 2022 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving National Championships will take place from March 9-12 from the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C.
Stay tuned to ncaa.com and queensathletics.com as they announce their live stats, video, and meet schedule for the entire week.
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