LAWRENCE, K.S. – The Carson-Newman swim team will open up their 2021-2022 campaign at the CSCAA Open Water National Championships in Lawrence, Kansas on Friday, Sept. 17 at 8:30 a.m.
The Eagles will swim in the event for the first time in two years and will be making their fifth appearance with a chance to finish with the most points of all DII competitors for the fourth time.
Jordan Taylor begins his sixth season as head coach alongside six returning swimmers that qualified for the NCAA DII National Championships last March in Birmingham, Alabama.
Graduate student CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) looks to improve upon and repeat her six individual All-American performance from DII Nationals last season. She will be joined by senior Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.), junior Rachel Peden (Boiling Springs, S.C.), junior Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.), junior Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands), senior Matthew George (Manchester, England) and sophomore Denilson Cyprianos (Bulawayo, Matabeleland, Zimbabwe) as those Eagles who competed in DII Nationals last season for Taylor.
The Eagles sent eight swimmers to Birmingham, marking the fourth straight season for Taylor to see at least seven athletes competing on the National stage. The Eagles also made the trip to Nationals for the program's sixth trip to nationals in its eight-year history.
Heading into the first event of the fall season in almost two years, coach Taylor and the Eagles see an octet of athletes vying for a chance to make an immediate impact in 2021. For the men's side of competition, it will be Cyprianos, sophomore Nicolas Lenuza (Spain), senior Kodee Eads (Johnson City, Tenn.), and sophomore Jed Little (Anderson, S.C.). For the women's side of competition, Rachel Peden will be joined by her sister, Rebecca, sophomore Summer Osborne (Clearwater, Fla.), and junior Linda Underboeck (Vienna, Austria).
The last time the Eagles competed in the CSCAA Open Water National Championships, it was Ungerboeck and Casey Charles leading the way for the Eagles. In her first collegiate appearance, Ungerboeck placed third in the women's 5k, as she and Joy Field of Texas A&M had a photo finish. Meanwhile, Charles finished sixth on the men's side of the 5k.
As the Eagles look to splash into a full season of action, both women's and men's side are loaded with talented returners and a pleothra of new faces looking to make their mark for C-N and coach Taylor.
The women return all the All-American performers from last season's Nationals appearance. Another major returner for the Carson-Newman women's swimming team is sophomore Chrisman Rand (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) who will look to build upon a successful debut season last year. In her first year as an Eagle, Rand won her first individual event in Mossy Creek against Mars Hill before gathering a pair of second-place finishes against Emmanuel. Rand and all the returners will look to serve and help lead the five new faces joining the women's program as C-N looks to make a splash in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference.
On the men's side, senior Joey Clemmer (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) returns after setting two new top-five program times, one in the men's 200-yard breaststroke and one in the men's 400-yard individual medley. Lenuza will return after making a quick impact in his C-N debut year by setting the fourth fastest program time in the men's 100-yard butterfly (48.59), fourth-fastest in the 200-yard butterfly (1:51.67), and fifth fastest in the 200-yard butterfly (1:51.85) throughout last season.
The men's program will add 11 freshman and one notable senior transfer in Emmanuel (Ga.)'s Igor Brentas Dantas, who saw action against the Eagles as part of the January 30 meet last season.
Be sure to keep up with the action throughout the season on all of Carson-Newman's social media platforms.
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