GENEVA, OH. – The Carson-Newman swim team will march a program-record nine individual athletes to the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving National Championships in Geneva, Ohio from Mar. 11 to Mar. 14.
Just those who have qualified for Nationals have been permitted to practice over the past few weeks.
"As a coaching staff it just allows us to be a bit more particular about what we're doing with the athletes," Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "All four of us as coaches have been to National Championships at the NCAA level and so we're just giving that guidance before and after practice so we can squeeze every last bit of potential out of them these last few weeks."
The team is currently ranked 12th on the women's side and while the men are 14th.
The women will see five athletes attend while four men made it for the Eagles.
On the women's end, freshman Manon Compagner (Balkbrug, Netherlands) will make her National Championship debut in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles as well as the 100-yard butterfly. Fellow freshman Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.) will also be making her first appearance at the National Championships; she will try her hand at the 100-yard breaststroke.
Sophomore Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.) will swim in the 200-yard individual medley. Junior CJ Jensen looks to participate in the 400-yard IM and senior Mary Northcutt (Hunstville, Ala.) aims to race in the 50-yard freestyle alongside Compagner.
It will be the first individual appearance for Northcutt who has received All-American honors for three consecutive years as a member of relay teams for C-N at National Championships.
"Fun fact, this is her first time at a national-level meet at any level as an individual," Taylor said. "High school, club, college, it's a first time individually. She has been to a bunch of national level meets but always as a part of relays. She has been one of our best relay athletes for years but now as a senior she has the opportunity to go as an individual as well."
For the men, sophomore Matt George (Manchester, England) will swim in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle as well as the 200-yard backstroke.
Senior Caleb Howell (Easley, S.C.) looks to compete in the 200 and 400-yard individual medley and the 200-yard breaststroke.
"He has been working hard last week and this week," Taylor said. "Now we'll rest him up going toward Nationals. The conversation for him is now toward the mental side of things. It's just handling that pressure. My advice to him is always just to breath, relax and focus on doing him and swimming his race. He is one of the best in the country when he does that."
Sophomore Andrei Ungur (Romania) looks to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Paul, when he swims the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly, 100 and 200-yard backstroke. Paul Ungur secured the best finish for a male swimmer in C-N history at the national championships with a third-place finish during his tenure at Mossy Creek.
Freshman Roberts Zemturis will swim at the National Championships for the first time when he joins Unger in the 50-yard freestyle.
Zemturis, Morgan and Compagner make up a program-record three freshman participating at Nationals as individuals.
"For them, it's been a building year," Taylor said, "It's just been a growing process for them, they continue to get faster each meet we've gone to, so I just look forward to them improving on their best times. If they do that it will put them in a great position to make finals and secure All-American awards and things like that. I just want them to soak in that atmosphere and all of the lessons that are going to come with it."
The women also qualified for three relays, the 200 and 400-yard individual medleys as well as the 200-yard freestyle
The men qualified for all five relay events for the first time ever. C-N will participate in the 200, 400 and 800-yard freestyles as well as the 200 and 400-yard individual medleys.
"They all have big opportunities to be All-American," Taylor said. "The way we swam at conference, we broke the record at four out of the five relays at conference so we've got a great chance at Nationals."
Be sure to keep up with C-N swim on cneagles.com and on C-N's social media platforms as they wrap up their season at the National Championships.
