Queens University of Charlotte men’s and women’s swim team held their lead in day three of the conference championships on Friday, February 13, 2015. The Royals came away with three meet records, one conference record, and one national record as the men grabbed a score of 1071 and the women totaled 1057.
Continuing their run from preliminaries, the women’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team of Alexandra Marshall, Patricia Castro-Ortega, Shane Knight, and Kristin Diemer, respectfully, powered through the water clocking in a meet record breaking time of 1:32.02 and qualifying for a Division II ‘A’ standard time.
Niclas Eriksson, Ben Taylor, Austin Sumrall, and Hayden Kosater, respectfully, clinched a first place finish in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with a 1:19.39. The ensemble broke one of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference’s oldest meet records set in 2009, as their finished moved them to top of the national standings, if times remain the same.
Castro-Ortega and C. Arakelian took a one-two finish in the 400 Yard Individual Medley as both surpassed the previous record set by Arakelian the year prior. Both swimmers took a Division II ‘A’ Standard Time as Castro-Ortega secured a 4:13.59, with Arakelian close behind with a 4:19.29.
Toppling the NCAA record for the men’s 400 Yard Individual Medley, Nicholas Arakelian took the national record by over a second, clocking in at 3:46.15. He would have the first place finish by over ten seconds.
Hannah Peiffer, breaking her own meet record set that morning in preliminaries, took second place for the 100 Butterfly timing at 53.64 for a Division II ‘A’ time standard. If times remain as they are, she would surpass the NCAA national rankings list for a number two spot on the national stage.
Matthew Josa dominated the competition in the 100 Yard Butterfly, setting a new meet record at 45.78, missing the national record by nearly two-tenths of a second.
Taking a Division II ‘B’ standard time, Eriksson out-touched his opponent for the first place spot at 53.45. He would move to the number one spot on the national stage, if times stand.
In the 100 Yard Backstroke, Peiffer grabbed the wall for a second place finish at 54.76, qualifying her for a Division II ‘B’ standard time.
In addition to their record breaking performances, Queens rounded out the night with several third place finishes as Lillian Gordy moved onto the podium in the 200 Freestyle with Ben Taylor mirroring on the men’s side of the event. John Suthers would also take a third place finish in the 100 Backstroke to close the night.
The conference concludes tomorrow as the preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. in the morning and the finals starting at 6 p.m. that night.
The Wingate University men's and women's swimming teams won two gold medals in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship meet at the Mecklenburg County Aquatics Center (MCAC) pool in downtown Charlotte Friday night. Wingate redshirt sophomore Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia) won the women's 100 Breaststroke, while Bulldog freshman Jerome Heidrich (Hamburg, Germany) took the checkered flag in the 200 Freestyle.
On the team leader board, both Wingate teams occupy second place after day three. The NCAA Division II number three Wingate women have 842 points; number two Queens has 1057 points. NCAA Division III Johns Hopkins (Md.) is third with 766 points. On the men's side, number six Wingate has 763.5 points; number two Queens has 1071 points. Limestone is third on the men's listing with 669.5 points. Thirteen women's teams and 12 men's squads are participating in the 17th annual BMC meet.
"This is easily our best night of the meet so far," Wingate head men's and women's swimming coach Kirk Sanocki says. "We performed well...I think our swimmers are fired up, wanting to close the last day on a good note."
"I am especially pleased to see our younger swimmers step up and make significant contributions," Sanocki says. "Our freshmen and sophomores had a big night tonight."
Wingate women's recap
Kosheleva won the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:03.22. She set a personal-best with her 1:03.21 posting in the preliminaries. Kosheleva flirted with the meet record of 1:30.10, set by SCAD Savannah's Liz Roberts on Feb. 18, 2011. Current Wingate assistant coach Maria Vlashchenko holds the WU school record with her national championship time of 1:02.71 on March 14, 2008.
Kosheleva had company on the awards podium, as sophomore Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) finished a very close second in the 100 Breaststroke. Weiss was five/one-hundredths of a second behind her teammate with her silver medal time of 1:03.27. Weiss was the 2014 BMC 100 Breaststroke champion with her time of 1:03.30.
The Bulldogs collected one gold medal, two silver medals and two bronze medals Friday night. Individually, sophomore Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) finished second in the 200 Freestyle with a NCAA Division II "B" cut time of 1:49.36. WU junior Armony Dumur (Amiens, France) claimed third place in the 100 Butterfly with a D2 "A" cut time of 53.82. Sophomore Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) was third in the 100 Backstroke with a D2 "B" cut time of 56.10.
Wingate started its Friday evening with a second place performance in the 200 Freestyle Relay. The Bulldogs set a new school-record with their time of 1:32.54. In addition to Petrenko and Dumur, team members include junior Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.) and sophomore Caitlin Coughlin (Cochranville, Pa.). Fish swam the first leg, followed by Petrenko, Coughlin and Dumur.
Senior Kellie Gervas (Imperial, Pa.) was eighth in the 400 Individual Medley with a time of 4:35.51. Classmate Jasmine Arzadon (Lorton, Va.) was sixth in the 100 Butterfly with a D2 "B" cut time of 56.50, while junior Rita Koryukova (Omsk, Russia) was fifth in the 100 Backstroke with her 56.37 clocking (also a D2 "B" cut).
The Bulldogs piled up points with two "B" final victories. Freshman Marinela Procopii (Hickory, N.C.) won the 400 Individual Medley "B" final with a time of 4:33.80. WU freshman Leigh-Ann Clark (Newport News, Va.) won the 200 Freestyle "B" final with a time of 1:51.91. Arkhipova was second in the same race with a time of 1:53.58.
Wingate men's recap
Heidrich won the 200 Freestyle with a personal-record time of 1:37.36. Sophomore Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany) and senior Issam Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) were second (1:37.78) and fourth (1:38.73), respectively, each setting a personal-best. Heidrich set a new BMC 200 Freestyle meet record in the preliminaries with his 1:37.32 posting. The Bulldog trio each have an NCAA Division II "B" cut as well.
Wingate junior Ossian Arvidsson (Kungälv, Sweden) was second in the 400 Individual Medley with a D2 "B" cut time of 3:57.18. Arvidsson won the BMC 400 IM as a freshman, edging three-time WU national champion Marko Blazevski ('14, Skopje, Macedonia) with his time of 3:56.19.
Arvidsson shared the 400 IM podium with two teammates, as senior David Collum (DeLand, Fla.) and sophomore Øystein Fjeldberg (Oslo, Norway) were fifth (4:00.78) and sixth (4:01.25), respectively, in the 400 Individual Medley. Both Collum and Fjeldberg have D2 "B" cuts, while Collum also bags a 400 IM personal record.
The Bulldogs earned a bronze medal in the first event of the Friday session, the 200 Freestyle Relay. Wingate swam a D2 "B" cut time of 1:21.35. The quartet includes Issam Zeraidi, Heidrich, Klüver and sophomore Lucas Cuadros (Cali, Colombia). Zeraidi and Heidrich swam the first two legs, with Cuadros and Klüver finishing the deal.
Wingate sophomore Roman Kanyuka (Moscow, Russia) finished fifth in the 100 Breaststroke with a D2 "B" cut time of 54.68. Kanyuka finished fifth in the 2014 NCAA Division II national championships in the same event, posting a time of 54.32. Freshman Brendan Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) swam in his first BMC final as a Bulldog, taking sixth place in the 100 Backstroke with a personal-best time of 49.62.
Wingate won five men's consolation finals Friday night. In chronological order, sophomore Mehdi Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) and freshman Stephen Tresslar (Wake Forest, N.C.) got things started by winning the 100 Butterfly "B" final (49.69) and "C" final (51.78), respectively. Cuadros won the 200 Freestyle "C" final with a time of 1:42.25. Senior Samuel Knapp (Madison, Ala.) won the 100 Backstroke "B" final with a time of 50.58, while classmate Chris Morris (Millville, N.J.) touched first in the 100 Backstroke "C" final with a time of 52.30. The five WU consolation final victories were all season-best times for the Bulldog quintet.
"We are going to ride the wave and see where everything falls Saturday," Sanocki says. "We want to qualify more people for NCAAs and set more team records."
Catawba sophomore Sebastian Holmberg (Akersberga, Sweden/Skolan) highlighted day three of the 2015 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Swimming Championships for Catawba on Friday night as he qualified for the NCAA II Championships with swims in the 100 fly and 100 back. The Catawba men had a big points day and moved into sixth place. The women remain in seventh.
Holmberg, who qualified for the NCAAs as a freshman two years ago, notched school records in both events and finished as the runner up. In the 100 fly, Holmberg was less than a second behind winner Matt Josa with his record time of 46.51. He also netted the 50 fly mark in his 21.23 opening leg.
In the final event of the night, Holmberg set another record with his 47.84 in the 100 back. He was just three tenths of a second behind winner Paul Ungur. Dominik Brus (Krakow, Poland/Loms Krakow) swam the B final and finished 10th, while Arnold Blohme (Daphne, Ala./Fairhope HS) was 21st.
Finn Furstenwerth (Hamburg, Germany/Gymnasium Farmsen) set a school record in 400 IM. He finished third in the final with a time of 3:58.15 which was a NCAA 'B' cut time. Andrew McCollister (Rockwell, N.C./Salisbury HS) also had a 'B' cut time as he finished 10th with a time of 3:03.21. Also in the B final was Rafal Baran (Trzebinia, Poland/Loms Krakow), who was 15th in a time of 4:12.29.
Theo Zatterstrom (Stockholm, Sweden/Fryshuset) posted a finals swim in the 200 free and finished fifth with a 'B' cut time of 1:39.04. It was the second fastest 200 in school history behind Holmberg's time set Wednesday in the 800 free relay. Toomas Goutt (Saint Witz, France/de Vinci) was 16th in the event with a time of 1:44.29. Jevgenij Gamper (Vilnius, Lithuania/Kachialov) placed 11th in the 100 breast, posting the third fastest time in school history at 55.83.
The women set another new relay mark, this time in the 200 free relay. The team of Amy Cujas (Mocksville, N.C./Forsyth Country Day), Nadine Brockmann (Hamburg, Germany/Ossietzsky), Anna Barnes (Suwanee, Ga./N. Gwinett HS/Darton St.) and Katia Kruglov (Karmiel, Israel/Ort Kramim) finished fifth with a time of 1:37.43. Cujas set the stage for the record with her leadoff leg of 24.36 which was also a new school mark in the 50 free.
Jess Daniel (Jamestown, N.C./SW Guilford HS), who set a record last night with a 50 fly opening leg of 26.93 in the 200 IM, placed 22nd in the 100 fly. The time of 59.23 was the fourth fastest in school history.
Brockmann finished 20th in the 200 free with a time of 1:55.08 and Kruglov was 17th in the 100 back (59.10). Janin Kassner (Giesen, German/Andreanum) was 14th in the 100 breast (1:02.33), while Palmer Benson (Mocksville, N.C./Davie Co. HS) was 19th in the 100 breast (1:08.71) and 16th in the 400 IM (4:49.08).
The men's team just missed a record in the 200 free relay. Gamper, Goutt, Brus and Zatterstrom went sixth in a time of 1:23.00 which was second best all time.
