VIDEO: Asger Hartvig Interview
VIDEO: Ethan Lawless Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman Swimming gets underway with the start of the ninth annual Blue v. Orange World Championships. After three years of domination by the Blue Team, it was the Orange Team that left the pool with a 247-208 victory.
"This meet is an opportunity to race for the first time," said Young. "A lot of our conversation leading up to this meet is allowing the work that we've done to show in the pool. Ultimately, just go out there and have fun and don't get weighed down by pressure."
The Blue v. Orange World Championships is an intrasquad meet that acts as a preseason before the Eagles get into conference play in October. Before the match today, Blue Team held a 5-3 all-time record in the series. After winning today, Orange has ended the three year drought with a dominating victory.
"Orange [team] has had a drought in recent years," said Young. "For Orange to come through for the first time in four years is a testament to them for sticking with it, draft well and play the long game. Now it's up to them to continue to win."
Orange Team head coach Ethan Lawless was proud of the effort and determination shown by his swimmers in this high stakes competition.
" I saw a lot of great things," Lawless said. "Orange came together as a team and we brought a lot of energy. Coming off of three straight losses, it can be hard to bring the energy needed to win, but the seniors led the whole way."
The Orange team was led by a handful of great performances that pushed them past the swimmers of the Blue team. Orange men's swimmers Arthur Gluzman and Asger Hartvig dominated their events today with Gluzman finishing with a time of 51.29 in the 100-yard IM and Hartvig with a time of 26.87 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
"It was amazing," said Hartvig. "We had a bunch of people step up and had some really good swims and great times. We have people that are really competitive and you could feel the tension throughout the week and now that we're one big team again, we'll really be pushing each other."
For the women on the Orange team, standouts Emma Bowling with a time of 24.42 in the 50-yard freestyle and Megan Corcoran with a time of 27.04 in the 100-yard backstroke.
"This is the fastest I've ever been at the beginning of the season," Bowling said. "That excites me as a swimmer to know that there's still more in the tank and more that I can do and it makes me excited for what's to come."
Blue team had top performances from Tyler Schehr with a time of 51.97 in the 100-yard backstroke and Breanna Belcher with a time of 1:04.98 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Looking ahead to the October slate of meets, Carson-Newman poems up conference play with a trip to Emory & Henry on Friday, Oct. 4 starting at 6:00 p.m.
"The Blue v. Orange is a great tune up meet for our team," said Young. "But once we turn that corner and get into the bulk of our schedule, it's time. We've got a massive training block coming and I'm excited to see how they handle it."
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