Homecoming for Milligan College men's and women's swimming ended with four national qualifying times as the Buffaloes fell to Mars Hill University and Union College Friday evening.
Union took the overall victory on the day, defeating both Milligan (294-104) and Mars Hill (196-186) in combined scores. The Buffs fell to Mars Hill 258-121.
On the men's side, Milligan lost to Mars Hill 163-25 and to Union 134-30, but the Buffaloes earned two national qualifying times in the matches. Brent Crosby, Grant Callahan, Riley Lis and Drew Doehring qualified in the 200-meter medley relay with a time of 1:58.27, and Callahan earned a "B" cut in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 25.33.
Though the women also lost to both Mars Hill (102-89) and Union (115-74) as well, they qualified for nationals in two relay events. Laura Ault, MariKate Walker, Sarah Walsh and Kelsey Achin qualified in the 200-meter medley relay with a time of 2:14.52, and Brandi Hay, Makenzie Bennett, Emily Mark and Casey Knapp swam a 4:38.71 to qualify for the 400-meter freestyle relay.
Milligan will go on the road for its next meet, traveling to Sewanee, Tennessee, to compete against Sewanee: The University of the South over Halloween weekend (Oct. 31-Nov. 1). The Buffs will then return home to take on Warren Wilson College on Saturday, Nov. 15 in their last home meet of the season. Both teams will be honoring their seniors before the meet, which will begin at 1 p.m. in the Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.
The Union College men's and women's swimming teams competed in their first double-dual meet on the season with Milligan (Tenn.) and Mars Hill (N.C.).
Overall, Union bested Milligan men's (134-30) and women's teams (115-74) in dual meet action, while Mars Hill defeated the Union men (111-89) as the Union women defeated Mars Hill (100-82). Individually, Union posted 16 NAIA National Qualifying marks in the competition.
For the Union women, things got off to a quick start in the 200-medley relay, where the Bulldogs were victorious in an "A" cut time of 2:08.31.
Individually, Callie Harrigan (SR/Windsor, Canada) led the way, hitting "A" cuts in two events, the 50-free (28.03) and the 100-free (1:01.85), winning both events. Meanwhile, Lara Kaufmann (SO/Schwerte, Germany) won three events in the 800-free (9:52.20), 100-butterfly (1:11.02) and 400-free (4:46.55). Kaufmann earned "B" cuts in the 100-butterfly and 400-free.
Elsewhere, Jule Stein (SO/Stuttgart, Germany) finished second in the 100-breast earning an "A" cut (1:18.95) and second in the 200-IM (2:41.38).Eliska Melicharova (SO/Upice, Czech Republic) won the 100-back with a time of 1:10.28 for a "B" cut. Sarah Cummins (FR/Carnoustic, Scotland) earned a "B" cut with a second place finish in the 200-free (2:21.35) and placed third in the 100-back (1:13:35).
For the men, they also got off to a great start in the meet in their portion of the 200-medley relay, hitting the wall in 1:55.11 to record their first "A" cut of the evening.
On the individual end, Bradley Moore (SO/Melbourne, Australia) had a strong evening, posting "A" cuts in both 200-free (2:00.08) and 400-free (4:15.04) to capture both events for the Bulldogs. Nathan Lethbridge (FR/London, Canada) finished with "A" cuts in the 50-free (23.94) and 100-free (54.03) while winning both events. Dalton Baxter (SO/Woodstock, Ga. ) earned "B" cuts in the 200-free (2:01.25) and 400-free (4:17.96) while finishing in second place for both events. Lucas Lucena (SO/Joinville, Brazil) won the 100-back event with a "B" cut time of 1:02.67. Dustin Dyer (SO/Fayetteville, N.C.) finished third in the 100-butterfly and 100-back. In the 800-free, Baxter finished first (8:51.36) while Moore finished second (8:58.28).
The men wrapped up the meet with the final national qualifying cut in the 400-free relay, finishing in 3:48.25 to record an "A" cut.
Union returns to the pool Nov. 8 when they host Campbellsville (Ky.) and Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) for their first home meet of the season at the Stivers Aquatic Center. The meet is set to start at 1 p.m.
