ATLANTA, Ga. – The Carson-Newman swim team finished in third place on both the men's and women's sides through the first day of the Emory Invitational in Atlanta, Georgia. After one night of events, the Eagles currently stand at 193 points for the women's team and 212 points for the men's team.
While C-N, ranked eighth on the women's side and 11th on the men's side, trails Emory and Wingate heading into day two, there were many bright spots for the team through the first 18 events of the competition, including five individual event victories.
To start off the night, both men's and women's 200-yard freestyle relay teams finished third. The women's team of Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands), Summer Osborne (Clearwater, Fla.), Chrisman Rand (Mount Pleasant, S.C.), and Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.) gathered a time of 1:36.24 as they came in third as the 'A' relay team for the Eagles. With this time, the Eagles now hold the seventh fastest event time in DII women's swimming, surpassing C-N's time against Milligan last weekend.
Shortly after, the men's team of Igor Dantas (Indaiatuba, Brazil), Hobson Stelling (Memphis, Tenn.), Nikita Puzevich (Belarus), and Nicolas Lenuza (Spain) finished third with a time of 1:22.68 behind 'A' teams from Emory and Wingate. This stands as the seventh fastest event time in DII men's swimming, as the Eagles best their time from their dual meet against Milligan last weekend.\
"Very positive meet, and much better than the one against Wingate a couple weekends ago as the results show that with the number of wins we had tonight," head coach Jordan Taylor said. "Very strong relays as we swam season bests, including beating Wingate in the men's 400-yard medley relay to end the night. Emory and Wingate are really good programs but we are sticking in there and racing hard."
Meredith Ginn then went on to make a splash individually as she won the women's 200-yard individual medley with a final time of 2:04.53, the fourth-fastest time for the event in all of Division II women's swimming this season.
The men's team joined the winning side of the pool as Denilson Cyprianos (Bulawayo, Matabeleland, Zimbabwe) would take home the victory for the men's 200-yard backstroke. His time of 1:48.04 was just merely right ahead of second-place Lawrence Redmond from Emory who finished in 1:48.32. Cyprianos's time of 1:48.04 is the second-fastest event time for DII men's swimming this season, only behind Ben Sampson's time of 1:47.26.
The ladies kept it rolling as reigning Bluegrass Mountain Conference Female Swimmer of the Week, Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.), gathered her third straight fall victory (Wingate; Milligan; tonight) in the women's 100-yard breaststroke. Her time of 1:02.97 was nearly two seconds faster than the event's second-place finisher from Wingate. Morgan now holds the third-fastest time in the event with her time on Friday as well as the fifth-fastest time (1:03.12) from the King Invitational earlier this season.
The next men's athlete to claim victory was Igor Dantas in the men's 100-yard freestyle. The senior transfer from Emmanuel College built upon his C-N resume with a winning time of 44.80 in the event. The Brazil native can now claim the sixth-fastest time for the event after coming in with his finishing time on Friday.
Right after Dantas claimed victory, CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) added another event win to her illustrious C-N resume. This time around, it was the women's 200-yard butterfly that would go Jensen's way as she won with a time of 2:04.07. This is the sixth-fastest event time for DII women's swimming this season.
The men's 200-yard butterfly saw a top-three finish on the men's side, thanks to Nicolas Lenuza. Lenuza has been a force for C-N men's swimming since joining the program last season as he would win in a time of 1:50.80 on Friday to capture another top-three event finish in his career. His time of 1:50.80 is tied for the seventh-fastest time for the event in DII men's swimming this season.
Manon Compagner looked to help the team secure another successful fall event as she gathered third in the women's 100-yard freestyle with her time of 51.63. The junior was only 0.27 seconds away from gaining second in the event and just under a whole second away from the winner in Cailen Chinn from Emory. Her 51.63 finishing time is now the seventh fastest event time for DII women's swimming.
The final top-five finish for C-N came in the women's 500-yard freestyle as Rachel Peden (Boiling Springs, S.C.) gathered another impressive time for the event with her third-place finish in 5:04.69, the eighth-fastest time for the event in DII women's swimming.
"Overall, very solid team performance in relays and individual events. We still have some things to brush up on as we end this meet tomorrow and continue preparing for UT in a couple weeks," Taylor said. "There are many standouts for us, but Kailee won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time well under the national qualifying standard. She is the first swimmer for us to punch her spot for Nationals and may be one of the first athletes in our program history to achieve the feat at this type of event."
To conclude night one of events, it would be C-N taking third in the women's and men's 400-yard medley relay.
First, the women saw a third-place finish in a time of 3:48.51 by the quartet of Kyla Blakemore (Durban, South Africa), Kailee Morgan, Manon Compagner, and Meredith Ginn. The time posted by the quartet is now the third-fastest relay time for the event in DII women's swimming this season.
Then, the men's team wrapped up C-N's night in the pool with a third-place finish with a time of 3:20.26 by the quartet of Denilson Cyprianos, Thanos Diamanditis (Athens, Greece), Nicolas Lenuza, and Igor Dantas. This is the sixth-fastest relay event time in DII men's swimming.
The team finishes up the event on Saturday, Nov. 6th at 11 a.m. from the Madeline Jude Brown Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
"Very positive overall as we are hearing Carson-Newman said a lot with our team continuing to cheer each other on," Taylor said. "Hoping to have similar results tomorrow after a good night of sleep and waking up ready to go tomorrow as we wrap up the event. Really excited to see what the team can do tomorrow."
There is a live video stream available, and the link can be found at cneagles.com for all who wish to tune in tomorrow as the Emory Invitational ends. Be sure to keep up with the Carson-Newman swim team all season long on C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.
