GENEVA, OH. – The Carson-Newman swim team saw two All-American-worthy swims in the opening day of the Swimming and Diving National Championships in Geneva, Ohio.
Senior Caleb Howell (Easley, S.C.) earned an All-American honor by finishing eighth in the 'A' final of the 200-yard individual medley.
The women's 200-yard medley relay group of CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark), Kailee Morgan (Greeneville, S.C.), Manon Compagner (Balkbrug, Netherlands) and Mary Northcutt (Huntsville, Ala.) took eighth in the 'A' final, securing All-American honors.
It was the first time at National Championships for the two freshmen in Morgan and Compagner.
"Those two were a little oblivious to the situation" Carson-Newman coach Jordan Taylor said. "They kind of just came in and had fun with the girls. They were super excited and swam as fast as they could and got into the top eight. There wasn't as much pressure because they were just enjoying the experience. They were just outside of a school record. They stepped up when it mattered which was cool. They were led by CJ and Mary."
The men also swam the 200-yard medley relay and broke the school record in the final.
Sophomore Andrei Ungur (Romania), Raphael de Paiva (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Ivo Kunzle (Asuncion, Paraguay) and Chad Andoljsek (Slovenia) finished third in the 'B' final in a time of 1:27.97.
"The guys continue to break the record over and over again in these relays," Taylor said. "They missed out on making the final by half a second but came back and had a great final swim. That's a lot of points for the team and it again highlights the depth of the program."
Jensen earned an All-American Honorable Mention after placing eighth in the 'B' final of the 200-yard individual medley. Jensen broke the program record in the event at the preliminary events earlier in the morning.
"It was a really good swim for her," Taylor said. "This season she dropped over four seconds on that event. It has been a really good season for her. It went about as well as it possibly could have this morning."
Northcutt placed second in the 50-yard freestyle 'B' final in a time of 23.14. The finish is good enough for an All-American Honorable Mention honor.
It was 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 the National Championships.
"It was a lifetime best for her, a tremendous swim to finish tenth in the country," Taylor said. "Just really well-deserved after a four-year career. We just talked about her having fun and her training has been good the past few weeks. I told her to be confident about her performance the past four years. It was just nice to see her improve her time and to get that recognition. She deserved to be in the top-10 in the country and she was."
Two Eagles participated in the men's version of the event.
Ungur finished first in the 'B' final of the 50-yard freestyle in 19.86. It was a new school record and lifetime best.
Fellow Eagle Roberts Zemturis (Ventspils, Kerzeme) placed eighth. Both swimmers earned All-American Honorable Mention awards.
It was the first time Zemturis saw the pool at National Championships.
"A lot of credit to him for handling the nerves and the pressure," Taylor said. "As he moves forward, he can learn from this meet and become a better swimmer."
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.
