Queens University of Charlotte men’s and women’s swim team swept the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship laying claim to both the men’s and women’s trophy at the end of the four day meet. The final day saw the men’s team take the title by over five hundred points with a score of 1548 as the women showed control with over a two hundred point difference with a 1518.
The last day of competition did not disappoint as the Royals continued to knock down records taking hold of seven new meet records and a national record by Hannah Peiffer in the 200 Yard Butterfly.
In addition to a conference championship win, Patricia Castro-Ortgea took the Swimmer of the Meet award for the women due to her spectacular, record shattering performances over the course of the event. Matthew Josa and Nicholas Arakelian received the honor on the men’s side being named Co-Swimmers of the Meet. Head Coach Jeff Dugdale would be presented with the ‘Coach of the Year’ award for both women and men’s swim teams to put a bow on the week’s performance.
“I could not be more proud of the student-athletes and what they’ve accomplished,” said Head Coach Dugdale. “The student-athletes have embraced this university and this program. From the top-down we are starting to see the rewards. This is only the beginning of the process and we are looking forward to traveling to Indianapolis and continuing our winning ways there. It’s great to be a Royal!’
The day started with the 1650 Yard Freestyle as Kathryn Johnston took a second place finish for a Division II “B” standard in the event. Her 17:00.95 finish could push her two fourth nationally if time stand as they are.
On the men’s side, it was a one-two finish as Nicholas Arakelian and Alex Menke closed out the event. Arakelian’s time of 15:11.07 would place him first in the nation (if times remain), giving him the meet record and an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA’s. Menke took second place with yet another automatic qualifying time for the Royals with is 15:18.32 for the event. His time currently sits third in the nation.
In the 200 Yard Backstroke, Caroline Arakelian sought a first place finish touching the wall for Division II ‘A’ standard time of 1:57.40 and narrowly missing her conference record time from the year prior.
Parallel for the event, Ben Taylor clinched a first place finish in the 200 Yard Backstroke with a Division II ‘B’ standard time of 1:46.09. Zachary Phelps secured a third place spot coming in off the toes off Taylor, to touch for a 1:47.09 time
Castro-Ortega dominance continued through the meet with a record breaking swim in the 100 Yard Freestyle. Touching the wall at 49.31, her Division II ‘A’ standard time posts her second on the national stage.
In yet another record event for Niclas Eriksson, the 200 Yard Breaststroke gave him gold as he took the conference record with a 1:55.97 time in a race that would see him first on the national standings, if times remain.
Hannah Peiffer dominated the water in the 200 Yard Butterfly, setting both meet record and a national record, touching the wall at 1:58.32. This Division II ‘A’ standard time secured her the first place spot on the national stage.
Not to be outdone on the last night of competition, Josa took one more individual first place finish for the Royals in the 200 Yard Butterfly, setting a new meet record at 1:44.97 and topping the national list by close to three seconds.
The relay team of Castro-Ortega, Arakelian, Lillian Gordy, and Alexandra Marshall, respectfully, set a new meet record with a 3:20.92 for the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay with their first place finish.
The evening concluded with the men’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay as Josa, Taylor, John Suther, and Hayden Kosater, respectfully, out-touched their opponents, clinching a first place time of 2:57.80, setting the one last conference record.
The Royals look to take their momentum with them on the road as they head to NCAA in Indianapolis, Ind. on March 11.
The nationally-ranked Wingate University men's and women's swimming teams won three individual events on the final night of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship meet at the Mecklenburg County Aquatics Center (MCAC) pool in downtown Charlotte Saturday. On the team leader board, both Bulldog teams finished second.
Wingate redshirt junior distance swimmer Julie Wessler (Sprockhövel, Germany) won the grueling women's 1650 Freestyle with a new school record time of 16:49.80. Redshirt sophomore Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia) won the women's 200 Breaststroke with a new BMC meet record time of 2:16.39. Bulldog freshman Jerome Heidrich (Hamburg, Germany) earned the gold medal in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 44.49. Each member of the aforementioned WU trio won two individual events each at the 2015 BMC championship meet.
The NCAA Division II number three and two-time defending BMC champion Wingate women concluded the 2015 BMC event with 1271 points. Number two Queens won the 2015 women's crown with 1518 points. NCAA Division III Johns Hopkins (Md.) was third with 1155 points. On the men's side, the number six Bulldogs compiled 1095.5 points. Number two Queens posted 1548 points to end Wingate's seven-year championship run. Limestone was third with 1013.5 points. Thirteen women's teams and 12 men's squads competed in the 17th annual BMC meet.
"I was very pleased with the way the team swam overall," Wingate head men's and women's swimming coach Kirk Sanocki says. "We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish, other than defending our championship titles."
"We must give Coach (Jeff) Dugdale and the Queens Royals their due," Sanocki says. "They put together a great meet plan...and their kids swam outstanding the entire meet. I was very proud of how our kids continued to battle, even when the meet championship was a foregone conclusion."
"On the psych sheet, our men were predicted to finish fourth," Sanocki says. "They rallied and swam a great meet. Our women were predicted to finish second, so they did what they had to do. We will go back to the drawing board...see who has qualified for NCAAs...and see who needs to go to the Royal Invitational (Feb. 20-21). There is still much swimming ahead for the Bulldogs."
Women's recap
Wessler added the 1650 Freestyle crown to her 1000 title from Wednesday. On Saturday, Wessler narrowly missed the NCAA Division II "A" cut in the 1650 Free (16:48.96). Wingate sophomore Erika Kaspersson (Eslöv, Sweden) was sixth in the 1650 Freestyle with her time of 17:34.96.
Kosheleva kept the two BMC breaststroke crowns in the Wingate family, as her sophomore teammate Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) won both titles in 2014. On Saturday night, Weiss finished sixth in the 200 Breaststroke with a time of 2:22.26. Freshman Marinela Procopii (Hickory, N.C.) was seventh with a time of 2:23.16.
In 200 Butterfly, Wingate sophomore Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) established an NCAA Division II "A" cut with her silver-medal time of 2:00.04. Petrenko concluded her day by swimming the second leg on the Bulldogs' second-place 400 Medley Relay team (3:26.94). Wingate touched-out Johns Hopkins by four/one-hundredths of a second for the silver medal. Petrenko was joined (in order) by junior Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.), sophomore Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) and freshman Leigh-Ann Clark (Newport News, Va.).
Earlier in the evening, Arkhipova finished second in the 200 Backstroke with D2 "B" cut time of 1:59.98. Junior teammate Rita Koryukova (Omsk, Russia) was sixth with a time of 2:03.93. Wingate sophomore Erin Brooks (Hilliard, Ohio) won the 200 Backstroke "B" final with a time of 2:04.67.
Fish and Clark finished seventh (51.43) and eighth (51.67), respectively, in the 100 Freestyle. Wingate junior Armony Dumur (Amiens, France) won the 100 Freestyle "C" final with a time of 51.93.
Men's recap
Heidrich edged senior teammate Issam Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) by four/one-hundredths of a second (44.49 to 44.53) to claim the BMC 100 Freestyle title. The NCAA Division II "A" cut is 43.96. Zeraidi and Heidrich concluded their day by swimming the first and fourth legs, respectively, on Wingate's silver-medal winning 400 Freestyle Relay team (2:58.89). They were joined by sophomore Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany) and sophomore Lucas Cuadros (Cali, Colombia), achieving a D2 "B" cut in the process.
Wingate junior Ossian Arvidsson (Kungälv, Sweden) started the evening for the Bulldogs by finishing fourth in the men's 1650 meters with a time of 15:53.54. Senior Samuel Knapp (Madison, Ala.) was sixth in the 200 Backstroke with a time of 1:50.13.
Bulldog sophomore Roman Kanyuka (Moscow, Russia) was third in the 200 Breaststroke with a time of 2:00.10. WU junior Damjan Petrovski (Skopje, Macedonia) was eighth in the same event, posting a time of 2:05.21.
In the final individual event of the BMC meet, Wingate sophomore Øystein Fjeldberg (Oslo, Norway) finished sixth in the 200 Butterfly with a time of 1:52.92. Bulldog freshman Stephen Tresslar (Wake Forest, N.C.) won the "C" final in the same event, posting a time of 1:58.18.
Selected Wingate student-athletes will compete in the Royal Invitational Friday and Saturday (Feb. 20-21) at the Levine Center on the Queens University of Charlotte campus. Last year, 14 Wingate men and seven Bulldog women participated in the 2014 Royal Invitational event.
Catawba finished up action at the 2015 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Swimming Championships on Saturday night at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center. Another big night for the men jumped the Catawba Indians into fifth place out of the 12 teams. Catawba's women finished seventh among 13 schools.
Sebastian Holmberg (Akersberga, Sweden/Skolan) was one of four men's swimmers to swim under school record times. The sophomore set a new record in the 100 free as he set the top prelim time of 44.47. He fell of two tenths in the final and finished third. The time was a NCAA 'B' cut standard.
Dominik Brus (Krakow, Poland/Loms Krakow) swam a school record in the 200 back, clocking in with a time of 1:49.36 to finish fourth. It was a also a 'B' cut swim. Two swimmers posted times to better the old 200 fly record. Rafal Baran (Trzebinia, Poland/Loms Krakow) had a prelim time of 1:53.66, but it was topped in both the prelim and final by Theo Zatterstrom (Stockholm, Sweden/Fryshuset). Zatterstrom was seventh in the final with a time of 1:53.07 and Baran won the B final.
Both men's and women's 400 free relay teams swam the second fastest times in school history. The men's team of Holmberg, Toomas Goutt (Saint Witz, France/de Vinci), Jevgenij Gamper (Vilnius, Lithuania/Kachialov) and Zatterstrom put up a 'B' cut time of 3:01.24 to go third. The women's 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) were just .14 off a record with their time of 3:33.78 and finished seventh.
Janin Kassner (Giesen, German/Andreanum) had a finals swim for the women in the 200 breast. She finished eighth with a time of 2:24.20. Palmer Benson's (Mocksville, N.C./Davie Co. HS) time of 2:30.29 was 21st in the event. Jess Daniel (Jamestown, N.C./SW Guilford HS) went 20th in the 200 fly (2:15.14).
Barnes swam to a 10th place finish in the 1650 free (18:05.13), while Brockman posted a 23rd place finish in the 100 free (53.66) and Cujas was 24th (54.27). Kruglov was one of three swimmers to swim on Saturday night in the 200 back and placed 15th with a time of 2:03.56. Courtney Tunstall (Mount Airy, N.C./E. Surry HS) took 18th (2:11.53) and Paula Garcia (Madrid, Spain/IES Diego Velazquez) was 20th (2:13.49).
Joining Holmberg in the 100 free Saturday were Goutt, who was 17th in a time of 46.42, and Gamper, who posted a time of 48.42 to go 24th. Brus was in the B final of the 200 fly and finished 15th (1:56.51).
Finn Furstenwerth (Hamburg, Germany/Gymnasium Farmsen) and Andrew McCollister (Rockwell, N.C./Salisbury HS) swam in the B final of the 200 breast. Furstenwerth posted the fifth fastest time in school history as he finished 11th in a time of 2:03.70. McCollister swam a time of 2:07.76 and was 15th.
The swim team is scheduled to take part in the Royals last chance meet next weekend at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center.
