CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Looking to make their mark and qualify for the 2022 NCAA Division II National Championships, 13 Eagles were in action for day one of the Royal Open from the Levine Aquatic Center in the Queen City.
"We just have to carry this momentum into nationals and have the same ride or die mentality," head coach Jordan Taylor exclaimed.
For a male swimmer to qualify, they need to be ranked 21st in the nation to get invited. If an athlete garners an "A' time, the selection is guranteed while a "B" time does not automatically qualify an athlete. Meanwhile, women need to be ranked in the top 26 to be invited.
Leading the way for the Eagles on Friday was Henrique Pacheco, as he was the lone C-N swimmer to automatically qualify for the upcoming 2022 NCAA Nationals with his time in the 400-IM Friday. After submitting the top male individual performance for C-N at the 2022 BMC Championships last weekend, Henrique Pacheco was back in action looking to secure another top-time.
After setting two top-five times last weekend, Pacheco swam another event top-five time as he came in at 3:53.96, the second-fastest event time for CNSW.
Makayla Young (Lexington, Ky.). Young swam her way to the third fastest women's 500-yard freestyle time as she swam a time of 5:03.00 in the women's 500-yard freestyle Friday night. At present standing, Youn sits six seconds away from an invite to Nationals.
Following suit, freshman Maria Tirulli swam her way to the top finish in the women's 200-yard butterfly Friday. After swimming a prelims time of 2:04.94, Tirulli swam a faster finals time of 2:04.64 to set a lifetime best and sit 1.1 seconds away from an invite to the Division II Nationals.
For the men's 100-yard breaststroke, Asger Hartvig continued making his mark in CNSW history. After setting the new program record during the 2022 BMC Championships last week, Hartvig came back Friday night to set another top-five event time.
His time of 54.91 makes him .4 seconds away from an automatic qualification for the 2022 Nationals, but still gives Hartvig the third-fasteset event time for an Eagle.
"The mood is great, although it is a last chance meet, there is less pressure compared with conference and so the swimmers are ready just to give it their very best and see if that will get them a trip to NCAA's."
Another lifetime best was set on Friday in the women's 100-yard freestyle as Kennadi King (Marietta, Ga.) swam her way to a 51.55 finals time. This time secures the sophomore a spot in C-N swim's top 10 times overall, but stands about 0.6 seconds away from an invite.
"I am excited about the meet this weekend," Taylor said. "In the past years it has always been very successful for us and we are coming off the back of our best ever Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship performance so I believe we will see further fast swimming this weekend too.
Carson-Newman will be back in action tomorrow, Feb. 19, as they look to wrap up their time in Charlotte with a couple more national qualifiers. The prelims start at 10:00 a.m. Saturday while the event finals will begin around 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
The event is not being livestreamed but live results can be found via Meet Mobile under "Royal Open" for any fan who is truly interested in following the Eagles.
Be sure to keep up with the Carson-Newman swim team on C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.
-CN-
