Video: Jordan Taylor Interview

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman swimming will be back in the Volunteer State for the next round of action during their fall season, but it won't be from inside the MSAC this time around. Due to the conditions of the MSAC pool not being suitable for competition, the Eagles will take to the pools of the Jones Aquatic Center from the campus of the University of Tennessee as they go up against the Milligan Buffaloes.

Carson-Newman comes into the matchup against Milligan after facing off with a Bluegrass Mountain Conference rival, the Wingate Bulldogs, last Saturday from the Wingate Natatorium. After the two-session event concluded, it was the hometown Bulldogs taking home a 488-142 victory, sweeping both the men's and women's sides of competition.

Carson-Newman would lose the women's competition 248-67 while the men lost 240-75. This was the second straight dual meet which Wingate has taken against C-N as they were also victorious in the 2020-21 matchup from the MSAC in Jefferson City.

"It was a long day after we got up early and had a full day of racing," head coach Jordan Taylor said. "It was a tough day of racing as the results show. It was kind of one-sided but it definitely wasn't last year. We had high hopes of coming in and beating them."

Wingate came out guns ablaze as they won 30 of the 34 total events over the two sessions from the Wingate Natarioum, including all four relays that took place. Carson-Newman came away with four individual event victories, highlighted by a pair of victories from senior Igor Dantas (Indaiatuba, Brazil).

Senior Igor Dantas was the main highlight for C-N as he won two individual events. First, he claimed the victory in the men's 100-yard freestyle Saturday. With his time of 45.36, it was the transfer from Emmanuel College getting into the groove of things as an Eagle. He would finish ahead of second-place Marcel Snitko from Wingate who finished in 45.66. The second event victory for Dantas came in the men's 50-yard freestyle as he swam a winning time of 20.84, mere seconds ahead of Bozo Puhalovic who finished second with a time of 20.98.

The Eagles also claimed victory in the women's 100-yard breaststroke thanks to the efforts of junior Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.) who won the event in a time of 1:05.38 ahead of second-place finisher Anne-Sofie Nissen from Wingate. This is the event which Morgan has continued to improve upon as she found her spot in last year's Nationals for the event. The only other event C-N claimed came by Nicolas Lenuza (Spain) in the men's 100-yard butterfly as he came in at 50.26 and helped the Eagles secure another nine points in competition.

"The second session last Saturday saw a lot of more impressive racing and we came out ready to swim our best times," Taylor said. "I think Wingate were ready to avenge their wounds from last year after losing more races last season. They came prepared and wanted to show us their true potential as they raced hard and raced well." 

Flipping the switch to the Buffaloes, the last time the Eagles and Buffaloes met was to start the home season for C-N during the 2020-21 season. Carson-Newman would be the victors as they won 381-141, including a 192-70 victory for the men and a 189-71 victory for the women.

"A long weekend against Wingate is a good way to put it with a lot of factors going into that. We are facing some logistical issues that we as a team are facing pretty well," Taylor said. "Those issues caused us to not perform at our best against Wingate, but we knew that Wingate was a top team in the country no matter what. We had some highlights from that meet against Wingate, so every cloud has some silver linings."

Among many of the bright spots for the Eagles was Chase Rayment, who swam the fifth-fastest time in the 50-yard backstroke, surpassing assistant coach Ben Young's time. Another standout for the men's last meeting was senior Joey Clemmer (Murfreesboro, Tenn.). Clemmer came away with individual wins in the 100-yd breaststroke and 200-yd breaststroke to help propel the Eagles to an early and strong lead.

On the women's side, one of the biggest standouts was Kyla Blakemore (Durban, South Africa). Blakemore had impressive individual wins in the 100-yd backstroke and 200-yd backstroke to start her collegiate swimming career on the right foot.

"We're honored and very happy to go and race at the University of Tennessee as we got access to the pool for a couple hours tomorrow. We'll get to use one of the best facilities in the country," Taylor said. "Both teams are looking forward to swimming at this facility and I think there will be a different version of Carson-Newman coming out tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing our team go in and pick themselves up after a tough weekend last time around."

So far this season, Milligan has competed in a variety of invitationals, but have also seen action in one dual meet against Emory & Henry. Against the Wasps, Milligan men picked up a 147.5-57.5 victory while the women earned a 155-42 victory as both teams won 11 out of the 12 events at the meet.

The women's team for Milligan was led by Gabby MacPherson who captured individual wins and NAIA provisional times in the 200-meter free (2:15.59), the 400-free (4:45.33), and 100 fly (1:08.29). Meanwhile, Ben Hawkins anchored the strong men's team performance as he posted first-place finishes in the 200 free (2:01.90) and 400 free (4:23.11).

Action will begin from the Jones Aquatic Center at 11:30 a.m. Friday morning. The event will have live in-meet updates via Twitter from @CN_Eagles as well as a full event recap following the conclusion of the event.

Be sure to keep up with the Eagles swim team all across C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.