JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman swim team held its blue-orange inter-squad meet on Friday night and the blue team emerged victorious, 213-195, at Maddox Pool in Jefferson City, Tenn.
"I thought it was a great meet," Swim Coach Jordan Taylor said. "It was really competitive all the way through. The scores flip-flopped all night. It came down to not too many points in the end, the blue team getting the victory. I'm really pleased that the teams were pretty even, there was a lot of great racing. I'm happy with the overall performance of the whole team."
The night opened up with orange winning the first two events, the women's open 400 free relay and the men's open 400 free relay, but the next three events were all won by blue swimmers, allowing the team, captained by Nancy Claire Smith (Franklin, Tenn.), Katie Zientarski (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Sam Schechter (Knoxville, Tenn.), to take an early lead.
Orange, led by captains Amanda Henderson (Bartlett, Tenn.), Josh Grover (Villa Rica, Ga.) and Landis Cranford (Greensboro, N.C.), battled back to slice their deficit to three points and the teams stayed close for the rest of the evening. The blue team, however, carved out a late lead and held on for the victory.
"The whole purpose of this meet was to start the season in a friendly competitive way," Taylor said. "We wanted to get the team ready for our first dual meet in a couple weeks. It was great to see them so competitive and supporting each other."
Individually, freshman Leah Allen (Aranda, Australia), who posted the best finish for the women's team in their first event of the year in Kansas, won two events for blue, the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle. Elly Culp, also swimming for the blue squad, won the 50 free and 100 fly. Maggie Melhorn (Knoxville, Tenn.) finished first twice for team orange, capturing the 100 breaststroke and the 100 individual medley. Margaret Stansberry (Knoxville, Tenn.) topped the field in the 100 back and 100 free, while Marcelo Figieuredo (Porto Alegre, Brazil) earned the top spot in the 200 free and the 500 free.
"Its hard to pick individuals [who stood out]," Taylor said. "Overall, as a team, I was pleased and really surprised at some of the results across the board. We came off the back of some really hard work the last couple of weeks. The guys are all sore and tired from a lift yesterday, but that competitive edge really helped them get through the day."
The first dual meet of the season for swimming will occur back at Maddox Pool on October 15th, as they host rival Limestone at 1pm. A complete write-up of the meet will be on cneagles.com upon its completion.
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