The Wingate University men's swimming team leads the Wingate Quad Plus meet after the first night of competition at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center Friday. The Bulldogs have 466 points; NCAA Division I Gardner-Webb is second with 362 markers. Wingate's Bluegrass Mountain Conference mates Catawba (206 points) and Lenoir-Rhyne (192 points) round out the four-team field (Friday night results).
Wingate won five individual events and both relay races Friday night. WU senior Issam Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) stayed busy, winning the 100 Freestyle (46.81) to lead a 1-3-4-5 Bulldog finish. He also played a part in two relay victories.
"I thought after a very tough week of training we swam really well," Wingate head coach Kirk Sanocki says. "After swimming last week on an emotional high going against our conference rivals, it was nice to see them put very good performances back-to-back."
Zeraidi swam the first leg as the Bulldogs touched first in the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:25.23). He was joined by sophomores Lucas Cuadros (Cali, Colombia), Mehdi Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) and Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany). Issam Zeraidi swam the anchor leg as Wingate won the 400 Medley Relay (3:27.96). His mates were senior Samuel Knapp (Madison, Ala.), junior Roman Kanyuka (Moscow, Russia) and freshman Jerome Heidrich (Hamburg, Germany).
Heidrich and Kanyuka won the 500 Freestyle (4:49.02) and the 100 Breaststroke (56.60), respectively. Kanyuka led a 1-3-4-5 Wingate finish in the 100 Breaststroke. Heidrich was second to sophomore Øystein Fjeldberg (Oslo, Norway) in the 200 Butterfly. Fjeldberg touched first with a time of 1:56.75, while Heidrich's silver medal time was 1:59.68.
Wingate senior David Collum (DeLand, Fla.) won the 200 Individual Medley with his triumphant time of 1:55.44. Fjeldberg was second in the 200 IM with a 1:57.60 clocking. Knapp collected a silver medal in the 200 Backstroke, thanks to his time of 1:55.72.
The Quad Plus meet concludes with two sessions Saturday. "It's the first time this season that we will race two days in a row," Sanocki says. "We'll see how they bounce back in the morning. This will tell the coaching staff a lot about where we are in the first half of this season."
The Wingate University women's swimming team leads the Wingate Quad Plus meet after the first night of competition at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center Friday. The Bulldogs have 479 points, 81 more than NCAA Division I Gardner-Webb's 418 markers. Wingate's Bluegrass Mountain Conference mates Catawba (272 points) and Lenoir-Rhyne (128 points) round out the four-team field (Friday night results).
Wingate won five individual events Friday and both relay contests. Wingate sophomore Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) won two individual events and one relay race Friday night. In her Bulldog debut, junior Armony Dumur (Amiens, France) won one individual race and played a role in two relay victories.
"I thought after a very tough week of training we swam really well," Wingate head coach Kirk Sanocki says. "After swimming last week on an emotional high going against our conference rivals, it was nice to see them put very good performances back-to-back."
Petrenko won the 200 Individual Medley (2:07.29) and the 200 Butterfly (2:05.62). She concluded her evening by swimming the anchor leg on Wingate's victorious 400 Medley Relay quartet (3:53.16, NCAA Division II "B" cut). Petrenko's relay mates were sophomores Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) and Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) and Dumur.
Dumur edged junior teammate Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.) to take the checkered flag in the 100 Freestyle. Dumur touched first with a time of 53.17, while Fish was next at 53.71. Fish started her day by swimming the first leg on Wingate's triumphant 200 Freestyle Relay team (1:37.20). She was joined by Dumur, freshman Leigh-Ann Clark (Newport News, Va.) and junior Rita Koryukova (Omsk, Russia).
Weiss won the 100 Breaststroke (1:06.09), while Arkhipova won the 200 Backstroke (2:05.09). Bulldog redshirt junior Julie Wessler (Sprockhövel, Germany) was second in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:10.65.
The Quad Plus meet concludes with two sessions Saturday. "It's the first time this season that we will race two days in a row," Sanocki says. "We'll see how they bounce back in the morning. This will tell the coaching staff a lot about where we are in the first half of this season."
Catawba's men and women stand third after the first day of action off the Quad Swim Meet being held through Saturday at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center. The standing for both men and women have Wingate leading Gardner-Webb with Catawba third and Lenoir-Rhyne fourth.
Dominik Brus (Krakow, POLAND/Loms Krakow) highlighted the opening day for the Catawba Indians as he claimed a win in the 200 backstroke. His time of 1:53.35 won by over two seconds and was the eighth best in school history. Brus also swam the leadoff leg in the 400 medley relay that finished second in a time of 3:31.13. He was joined by Jevgenij Gamper (Vilnius, LITHUANIA/Kachialov), Finn Furstenwerth (Hamburg, GERMANY/Gymnasium Farmsen) and Toomas Goutt (Saint Witz, FRANCE/de Vinci).
Gamper posted a second-place finish in the 100 breast (57.40) and went third in the 200 IM (1:57.61). Goutt picked up a runner-up finish in the 100 free, posting a time of 47.13 that was three-tenths of a second off the winning mark. Andrew McCollister (Rockwell, N.C./Salisbury HS) was second in the 500 free in a time of 4:50.98.
Nadine Brockmann (Hamburg, GERMANY/Ossietzsky) swam to a pair of third-place finishes for the women. Her time of 53.95 in the 100 free was the 11th best time in school history. She had a time of 5:17.32 in the 500 free with Anna Barnes (Suwanee, Ga./N. Gwinett HS/Darton St.) going fifth in the event in a time of 5:20.05.
Janin Kassner (Giesen, GERMANY/Andreanum) and Palmer Benson (Mocksville, N.C./Davie Co. HS) went fourth and fifth in the 100 breast. Kassner had a time of 1:11.39 with Benson right behind at 1:11.63. Freshman Jess Daniel (Jamestown, N.C./SW Guilford HS) went sixth in the 200 IM and swam the 10th fastest time in school history at 2:18.07.
