CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Carson-Newman swim placed second in the 2023 SAC Men's and Women's Swimming Championships.
"It was a great way to finish the regular portion of our season. It was definitely a humbling experience and hopefully gave our swimmers some perspective on the journey we have ahead of us. I was really proud of how they stepped up and finished the meet," head swim coach Ben Young said.
The Eagles ranked second at the conclusion of the SAC Swimming Championships this week. Carson-Newman women's swim finished the weekend with 1,666 points following closely behind Wingate with 2,038. Carson-Newman men's swim ended with 1,496 points. Wingate placed first with 1,952 points.
Rachel Peden finished second in the women's 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:08.05, an NCAA DII "B" Cut for the event. Linda Ungerboeck placed third with a new personal best in 17:27.27. Makayla Young placed fifth in the event in 17:51.17.
Kennadi King finished fifth in the 100-yard freestyle with a "B" Cut time of 51.23. Lily Parr also received an NCAA DII "B" Cut for the event with her seventh-place finish in 51.65.
On the men's side of the event, the Eagles secured three more qualifying cuts. Hobson Stelling placed third in 44.07, while Arthur Gluzman finished in 44.23 for fourth in the event. Finishing out the top-five for the men's 100-yard freestyle was Ridge McCay in 44.55.
Kyla Blakemore won silver in the women's 200-yard backstroke with a finals time of 1:59.66. Blakemore secured a new personal record and NCAA "B" Cut for her efforts. Natalia Amano won the 'B' Final in the event in 2:06.74. Will Humphreys placed fifth in the men's 200-yard backstroke with his finals time of 1:50.23.
Breanna Belcher placed sixth in the women's 200-yard breaststroke 'A' Final in 2:20.15. Antonia Sanint won the 'B' Final in 2:28.20, and Alexis Bender grabbed the top spot in the 'C' Final in 2:32.14. For the men, Asger Hartvig placed third in the event in 2:02.77, a new personal best.
In the women's 400-yard freestyle relay, Carson-Newman finished second with an NCAA DII "B" Cut in 3:23.49. The men also finished second and secured a qualifying cut in 2:56.06.
"It feels like yesterday that we were having our first team meeting and talking about how we had the next 25 weeks to put the work in and have the best possible season. Now it's even crazier to think that it's here and gone. It goes by quick. The ones in contention for NCAAs will continue training and the ones that aren't will enjoy their two weeks and hopefully be ready to get back to work," Young said.
The NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships will take place from Thursday, March 7 through Saturday, March 11. Make sure to stay up to date on cneagles.com.
