Culp, Howell, Stansberry build on impressive week in Charlotte
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Day three of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships have come to a close with both Carson-Newman swim teams remaining at No. 3 in the team rankings.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Day three of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships have come to a close with both Carson-Newman swim teams remaining at No. 3 in the team rankings but it was an impressive day overall for the team who watched another school record fall and got to see a new wave of personal-best times.
Queens have extended their first-place leads with 699 in the BMC women's division and 1116.50 in the men's.
The Wingate Bulldogs hold steady in second with 538 in the women's and 910.50 in the BMC men's division. C-N has 327 and 592 points respectively. The Limestone College men sit just behind the Eagles with 577 points of their own.
After senior Maggie Melhorn set a school record in the prelims just this morning in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:20.20, nearly seven hours later, Melhorn topped her own school record and claimed a second-place finish in the event earning her second All-BMC honor this week. Her time of 1:01.67 was just shy of Queens' own Shelly Prayson at 1:01.57.
The time now ranks the Knoxville, Tenn. native fourth in the nation in the event.
C-N swimmers Lisa Postma, Mary Northcutt, Elly Culp and Margaret Stansberry began the evening with an All-BMC time in the 200 yard freestyle turning in a new season-best at 1:33.59 and a third-place finish.
In the women's 400 yard individual medley Alex Nuyianes nearly missed an All-BMC time with a finish at No. 7 but had a new season-best swim at 4:37.85.
CJ Jensen was named All-BMC in the event notching a fifth-place finish at 4:32.08, marking her first All-Conference honor as a freshman.
Elly Culp claimed her third All-BMC honor of the Championship after finishing sixth in the 100 yard butterfly with a new season-high time of 55.90. The native of West End, N.C. was also a piece of the C-N swim team that collected All-BMC in the 400 yard medley relay on Thursday.
Margaret Stanberry also collected her third All-Conference honor after earning a second-place time in the 200 yard freestyle, which also notched a new season-best at 1:49.01, beating out three Royals swimmers and five Bulldog swimmers. Stansberry was also a member of the 400 yard medley relay team with Culp in yesterday's swim. The senior now has collected All-BMC swims 15 times in her career.
"We were much better today," Coach Jordan Taylor mentioned. "It was good to see some school records and personal bests fall once again."
Nikola Tadic collected his first All-BMC honor as a freshman with a sixth-place finish in the 200 yard freestyle. The time of 1:40.29 topped his previous season-high by .02 seconds.
Andrei Roman earned his first All-BMC swim of the week in the 100 yard breaststroke which also reset a new season-high at 54.99 seconds. The Medias, Romania native's efforts were good enough for a fourth-place finish.
Despite just missing out on All-Conference in the 100 yard backstroke, Mary Northcutt (58.09) and Kelsey Robins (1:01.10) both earned best times.
Senior Andrew Wheeler collected his last ever 100 yard butterfly as an Eagle with a season-high time of 50.57 seconds.
Caleb Howell collected an All-BMC time in the 400 yard individual medley at 3:56.86 marking a new season-best in the event. The sophomore native of Easley, S.C. joins Culp and Stansberry as Eagles who are 2018 All-BMC in three events.
C-N will now look towards the final day of swims at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center starting with the preliminary swims at 10:00 a.m. and the finals at 5:00 p.m.
"We're ready to get back in the pool tomorrow to keep that momentum going from today," Coach Taylor added. "We want to finish it out strong!"
All results and live streams from the week are available here.
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