VIDEO: Jordan Taylor recaps Blue vs. Orange Championships
VIDEO: Chad Andoljsek recaps Blue vs. Orange Championships
VIDEO: CJ Jensen recaps Blue vs. Orange Championships
JEFFERSON CITY, T.N. – The Carson-Newman swim team held their fourth annual Blue vs. Orange Championships with Blue triumphing over Orange, breaking a two-meet losing streak by a score of 230-184.
The event was an inter-squad meet in which C-N teammates battled it out in dual-meet format.
The Eagles ran a total of 22 races consisting of four relay events and 18 individual swims.
The competition shined a spotlight on the program's depth as there were fourteen different first-place finishers in the eighteen individual swims.
"Pretty much every event, the people that were stepping up and winning it or being in the top-two were posting some really quality times," Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "Most of the winning times tonight would win pretty much any dual meet we're going to face this season."
Things kicked off with a 400-yard relay for the women which was won by the Orange team. Freshman Manon Compagner (Bulkbrug, Netherlands) had the fastest time in the race at 52.05 and was just getting started.
Compagner would go on to win the women's 100-yard butterfly and would also finish second in the women's 50-yard freestyle.
"Manon, one of our freshmen coming in had some really good swims and won the 100-fly and had some really good relay swims," Taylor said.
The men followed at the same distance with Blue taking the victory led by junior Chad Andoljsek (Slovenia). He then followed with first-place finishes in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles.
"Him going twenty-point in the 50 freestyle, he's just off his lifetime best in the middle of an inter-squad meet," Taylor said. "He just needs to shave off a few more tenths on that time and he's going to qualify for Nationals so that was awesome.
Andoljsek was also a part of the men's squad that won the 200-yard medley relay, the very last swim of the competition.
"I think the team did really well, we really stepped up together, really like cheered each other on," Andoljsek said. "Like me personally, I think I did a really good job on my 50-free and 100-free. That was basically my fastest time in-season ever so I'm really glad we pulled that win."
Senior Caleb Howell (Easley, S.C.) also won two individual races, taking home first-place in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 100-yard IM at just 51.51 seconds, a program-record.
Fellow senior Mary Northcutt (Huntsville, Ala.) also saw multiple victories, finishing first in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle as well.
"Winning the 50-free and 100-free, both very good times," Taylor said. "For her, the fastest time she's done in a dual-meet of her college career so that was awesome.
Another swimmer that placed first in multiple events was sophomore Mathew George (Manchester, England) who won the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.
Compagner wasn't the only underclassman that had an impressive outing. Freshman Rachel Peden won the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:38.83, a swim Taylor referred to as "one of the hardest events on the program."
Kailee Morgan (Greenville, SC), another newcomer to the program, won the 100-yard breaststroke and placed second in the 100-yard IM behind sophomore Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.)
Freshman Linda Ungerboeck (Vienna, Austria) and junior Casey Charles (Mount Juliet, TN), the top finishers from the team's season-debut at the CSCAA Open Water National Championships, both took home first place in their respective 500-yard freestyles.
"Right across the board, guys and girls, freshmen through seniors were getting a lot of good swims and like I said it's very early but it's a great place to be at," Taylor said. "I'd rather have fast swims and build than be like 'oh, back to the drawing board, we've got a lot of things to work on before we move forward,' so I'm really excited to take the team on the road in a week's time."
Next up, the Eagles will travel to Kingsport, Tennessee for the King Invitational on Friday, October 4th, 2019.
Be sure to keep up with C-N swim all across Carson-Newman social media platforms.
