ATLANTA, Ga.- Eagles set to race again for the first time in over a month at the upcoming Emory Invitational.
After over a month off, Carson-Newman swim is back in action this weekend at the Emory Invitational in Atlanta, Ga. The Eagles are set to face off against Emory University, Wingate University, and Georgia Southern University.
"We haven't raced since the end of September, so we are extremely excited to race. It'll be fairly similar to last year. Our goal is to go down there, see where we are at, and hopefully put some solid racing together," head swim coach Ben Young said.
The team has rescheduled their meeting with Milligan for Nov. 11 that was originally set for this past weekend, giving the Eagles an even longer period between races.
"We've taken the time to really focus in on our training. This'll be the first time suiting up and really seeing a lot of competition in the same pool all at one time. But as opposed to resting and taking it easy, we really utilized the time to really get after the training and focus on the weeks to come," Young said.
The recent release of the SAC preseason swimming polls has placed both men's and women's swim teams in second. The Carson-Newman women's swim team racked up 22 points and two first-place votes landing them in the number two spot as they head into the remainder of the season. The men's team clenched second in the polls as well with 21 points and one first-place vote.
"It's nice being second. We've typically been third in preseason polls. It was good, it was nice to see. Again, we're still looking to be ranked first in that preseason poll in years to come," Young said.
The speed of the season will begin to pick up after this weekend as the Eagles race Milligan on Nov. 11 followed quickly by Lee's McRae on Nov. 12. The Tennessee Invitational will be held the following weekend in Knoxville, Tn. where the Eagles will race against a variety of high-quality teams.
"I just want to see them race. We've talked a lot about race prep and focusing in on this weekend. It will give us a lot of information as to where they are at for the coming weeks. We've got a lot of racing in a little bit of time in the coming weeks. So, for us, this weekend will be a benchmark to see where we are at and where we can go moving forward over the next few weeks," Young said.
The Eagles are set to race tomorrow at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Emory Invitational in Atlanta, Ga. Stay up to date and look for results on cneagles.com.
