Eagles set the pace against Mars Hill

Posted: Jan 16, 2021

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In its first home meet for the 2021 part of competition, the Carson-Newman Eagles swimming team won every event (28 of 28) to set the pace and defeat the Mars Hill Lions by a combined team score of 408-92 Saturday afternoon. The men won 203-42 while the women came away with a 205-50 triumph.

"It was good to kickstart the 2021 portion of our schedule. Being away for a couple weeks has really tested us and our goal is to get back in the pool and set the bar high," head coach Jordan Taylor said. "It was good to have our whole roster out there competing and to see what we can really do as we get closer to Conference and Nationals."

C-N came out of the gate strong and never looked back the whole competition. Among many of the bright spots for the Eagles Saturday was Nikita Puzevich (Belarus). Puzevich came away with the victory in the men's 50-yd freestyle (20.46) while also being the starting leg of the winning men's 400-yd freestyle relay (3:06.90).

"It was pretty nice to get back out there after a month out. I wasn't really expecting such fast times," Puzevich said. "Next week's intrasquad will be really competitive and I think we will get good results all around and I'm looking forward to it."

On the women's side, one of the biggest standouts was freshman Kennadi King (Marietta, Ga.). She won the women's 200-yd freestyle (1:55.68), women's 100-yd freestyle (52.83), and started off the women's 400-yd freestyle relay for C-N women's team 'A' who finished in 3:39.60.

"It was definitely fun getting back out there." King said. "Newcomers showing up to compete and getting used to the team is what really helped us to perform as strong as we did. Our home record means a lot and it's nice to see it pay off."

Individual highlights include freshman Nicolas Lenuza (Spain) who played a vital role in the men's 400-yd freestyle relay second-place team with a time of 3:10.03 while also helping C-N capture the men's 200-yd medley relay in a time of 1:32.90 before he won the men's 100-yd butterfly in 49.61.

For the women, freshman Chrisman Rand (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) helped start the day off strong when the women's 200-yd medley relay team captured first with a time of 1:46.56 before Rand competed and won the women's 100-yd butterfly in 58.04 and wrapping up her day with an assist to help C-N team 'A" gain second in the women's 400-yd freestyle relay with their time of 3:39.60.

Since the team started practicing, Taylor has made it clear to this team to only worry about the present and what is in front of them. Taylor wants his team to put their best effort every time in the pool and to take advantage of the competitions they will have during this unprecedented year.

UP NEXT
The Eagles will hold their annual Blue v. Orange Intrasquad competition next Friday (1/22) at 5 p.m. inside the MSAC without any fans in attendance. The next dual-meet for the Eagles will come on Jan. 30 as C-N welcome Emmanuel (Ga.) to Mossy Creek, where the Eagles are 26-4 since program inception in 2013.

-CN-