The Queens University of Charlotte men’s and women’s swim team tackled day two of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship with confidence, propelling through records on Thursday. The Royals continued to dominate the championships breaking another national record, four meet records, and two conference records during the day’s final events. The team concluded the night with the men atop the board with 607 points, while the women lead with 627 points.
The Royals would once again start the meet on a strong note with Patricia Castro-Ortega breaking a record for the first event of the night. She took hold of the 500 Yard Freestyle with a 4:45.49, narrowly missing the national record by two-tenths of a second. Kathryn Johnston pulled in a third place for the event coming to the wall at 4:57.31.
On the men’s side, Nicholas Arakelian added to the eventful evening with a record breaking swim in the 500 Yard Freestyle, finding the wall at 4:20.49. He would fall just shy of the NCAA Division II record.
Continue the family affair, Caroline Arakelian took control of the 200 Yard Individual Medley powering in for a 2:00.21 finish to beat her previous meet record by three-tenths of a second. She also fell just shy of the national record by only one second.
Matthew Josa continued the Royals’ trend, breaking a meet record in the 200 Yard Individual Medley by clocking in at 1:44.32 and surpassing his competitors by four seconds. His performance would topped number one in the nation, if times hold, breaking his previous grasp at the top seed. Felipe de Oliveira took a third place, NCAA Division II ‘B’ standard time, touching in at 1:49.10.
Niclas Eriksson and Austin Sumrall would take second and fourth place, respectfully, in the 50 Yard Freestyle with Eriksson securing a time of 20.17 and Sumrall coming in at 20.43.
The women’s 400 Yard Medley Relay team of Hannah Peiffer, C. Arakelian, Alexandra Marshall, and Castro-Ortega, respectfully, clocked a Division II ‘A’ standard time of 3:40.67, breaking the previous meet record by five seconds. The time would hoist them to the number two spot on the national stage, if performance times hold.
The meet concluded with the men’s 400 Yard Medley Relay featuring Zachary Phelps, Eriksson, Josa, and Ben Taylor, respectfully, breaking the national record and claiming the meet record by over three seconds. With their touch of 3:10.50, they took first place by over seven seconds.
“The coaches were blown away with their [teams] performance tonight,” says Assistant Coach Peter Verhoef. “We take great pride in our relays and it really showed tonight. We continue to improve with each day and we are looking forward to testing ourselves as a team again the next two days.”
The Wingate University men's and women's swimming teams are second in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship meet at the Mecklenburg County Aquatics Center (MCAC) pool in downtown Charlotte after Thursday's competition. Thirteen women's teams and 12 men's squads are participating in the 17th annual BMC meet.
The NCAA Division II number three Wingate women have 421 points; number two Queens has 607 points. NCAA Division III powerhouse Johns Hopkins (Md.) is third with 393 points. On the men's side, number six Wingate has 365.5 points; number two Queens has 627 points. Limestone is third on the men's charts with 345.5 points.
"I am very proud of the fight in our swimmers," Wingate head men's and women's swimming coach Kirk Sanocki says. "We are swimming personal best after personal best as well as team record after team record. We are looking forward to the next two days."
Wingate women's recap
Wingate redshirt junior Julie Wessler (Sprockhövel, Germany) followed her gold medal in Wednesday's 1000 Freestyle with a silver medal performance in the 500 Freestyle. Wessler's triumphant time was a personal-best clocking of 4:56.03.
Bulldog sophomore Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) established an NCAA Division II "A" cut with her second-place finish in the 200 Individual Medley. Petrenko's time of 2:01.00 is also a Wingate record and a personal best. Sophomore Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) and redshirt sophomore Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia) were sixth (2:07.12, "B" cut) and seventh (2:07.36, "B" cut), respectively, in the same event.
Wingate junior Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.) broke the BMC meet and WU school record in the 50 Freestyle morning preliminaries with her time of 23.19. She swam a 23.15 in the finals, finishing fourth. Junior Armony Dumur (Amiens, France) was sixth (23.47), while freshman Leigh-Ann Clark (Newport News, Va.) won the "B" final with a time of 23.71. Fish, Dumur and Clark post NCAA Division II "B" cuts in the 50 Freestyle Thursday.
Wingate men's recap
The Bulldog 400 Medley Relay quartet concluded a big night by finishing second with an NCAA Division II "B" cut time of 3:17.60. Team members include senior Samuel Knapp (Madison, Ala.), sophomore Roman Kanyuka (Moscow, Russia), junior Damjan Petrovski (Skopje, Macedonia) and freshman Jerome Heidrich (Hamburg, Germany).
Three Wingate student-athletes placed in the top eight of the 500 Freestyle Thursday. Sophomore Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany) was third (4:28.95), while sophomore Øystein Fjeldberg (Oslo, Norway) and junior Ossian Arvidsson (Kungälv, Sweden) were sixth (4:34.20) and seventh (4:35.13), respectively. Klüver and Fjeldberg established personal best times in the distance event. All three times are NCAA Division II "B" cuts, as is Heidrich's "C" final-winning time of 4:34.44.
Senior David Collum (DeLand, Fla.) was fourth in the 200 Individual Medley with an NCAA Division II "B" cut and personal-best time of 1:49.14. Classmate Issam Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) was fifth in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 20.55. Zeraidi's 50 Freestyle time is a personal best and an NCAA Division II "B" cut.
Day three of the BMC Championships is Friday, with the preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m. The finals are slated to start at 6 p.m. The Wingate University Sports Network will provide a free HD video stream Friday night.
Catawba lowered more school makrs on day two of the 2015 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Swimming Championships on Thursday night at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center. Theo Zatterstrom (Stockholm, Sweden/Fryshuset) put up a new record in the 500 free, while the women's 400 medley relay team also posted a record time.
Zatterstrom first broke the 500 free record in the prelim then took three more seconds off in the final with a time of 4:33.69. He won the B final, placing ninth. The women's 400 medley team was comprised of Katia Kruglov (Karmiel, Israel/Ort Kramim), Janin Kassner (Giesen, German/Andreanum), Jess Daniel (Jamestown, N.C./SW Guilford HS) and Amy Cujas (Mocksville, N.C./Forsyth Country Day). That team finished fifth with the record time of 3:57.06.
Cujas swam earlier in the 50 free and posted the third fastest time in school history with her 24.63. She was in the C final and finished 22nd. The women put two swimmers in the B final of the 500 free. Nadine Brockmann (Hamburg, Germany/Ossietzsky) was 13th and Anna Barnes (Suwanee, Ga./N. Gwinett HS/Darton St.) 14th. Brockmann's time of 5:09.17 places her fifth in the record book with Barnes just behind in a time of 5:09.35.
For the men, Jevgenij Gamper (Vilnius, Lithuania/Kachialov) and Toomas Goutt (Saint Witz, France/de Vinci) earned finals swims in the 50 free. Gamper was 16th in the B final with a time of 21.18 and Goutt placed 24th in the C final with his time of 21.51.
One record not mentioned on Wednesday was Sebastian Holmberg (Akersberga, Sweden/Skolan), who led off the 800 free relay with a time of 1:38.40 to eclipse the old mark.
After two days of the championships, the Catawba men and women both stand seventh.
