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Union Finishes Third at Appalachian Champs

The Union College men's and women's swimming teams wrapped up the 2015 Appalachian Swimming Conference Championships. The Union men and women finished third overall, as action wrapped up at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center on Saturday evening.

The Union men's team, who garnered 425 points, improved on a fifth place finish in last season's ASC Championships. Meanwhile, the Union women collected 364 points to place in the top five as a squad at the championships for the sixth straight season.

"I am very excited for our men and women," said head coach Rafael Forti. "They fought and competed hard all meet long, despite the fact we were not rested for this meet."

Cameron Donaldson (FR/Jersey, Channel Islands, U.K.) led the way for the Union men with a first place finish in the 1650-free with an NAIA "A" cut time of 15:46.07. Finishing behind Donaldson in the 1650-free were Dalton Baxter (SO/Woodstock, Ga. ) in third (16:33.80) and Bradley Moore (SO/Melbourne, Australia) (16:46.12), both "A" cut times. Moore placed fourth in the 200-back with an "A" cut time of 1:55.23.

Continuing his stellar freshman season was Nathan Lethbridge (FR/London, Canada), who finished third in the 100-free (46.71) for an "A" cut.

Two Bulldogs finished back-to-back in the 200-back: Dustin Dyer (SO/Fayetteville, N.C.) finished fifth (1:56.82) and Lucas Lucena (SO/Joinville, Brazil) finished sixth (1:58.39). Dyer and Lucena collected an "A" cut for their times in the event. Edward Malick (SR/Gilroy, Calif.) wrapped up the Union men in individual competition with a seventh place finish in the 200-breast with an "A" cut time of 2:09.68.

In the 400-medley relay, the Union men finished fourth, hitting the wall in 3:27.55 for an "A" cut time.

For the women's team, Callie Harrigan (SR/Windsor, Canada) finished second in the 100-free with an "A" cut time of 52.51. In the 200-free, Jule Stein (SO/Stuttgart, Germany) collected a fourth place finish with "A" cut time of 2:28.17. Lara Kaufmann (SO/Schwerte, Germany) finished sixth in the 1650-free in 18:19.53 for an "A" cut time.

Rounding out the women: Anna Kotliarova (SR/Kharkov, Ukraine) finished sixth in the 100-free (54.22), Eliska Melicharova (SO/Upice, Czech Republic) finished seventh in the 200-back (2:14.08) and Susana Martinez (FR/ Colonial Heights, Va.) finished seventh in the 200-fly (2:16.09). All three times were "A" cuts for the Bulldogs.

The Union women wrapped up their day in the 400-medley relay with a second place finish of 3:37.91, for an "A" cut time.

The Bulldogs men's and women's swimming teams qualified 16 out of their 18 swimmers for the NAIA National Championships.

"It was a total team effort and I am proud of that," Forti said. "Now we will gear up for the final preparations for the national championships and we are super excited for it."

Up Next
Union now takes a few weeks off before finishing off their 2014-15 season at the 2015 NAIA National Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. The event will run from Mar. 5 through Mar. 7.

 

 

The St. Andrews University swim team finished their Appalachian Athletic Conference competition Saturday night after three days of breaking meet and conference records.

The SAU men finished in 4th place with 423 points, just two points behind 3rd place NAIA conference foe Union College (Ky.) in a tight battle for the top four spots. NAIA foe WV Tech won the meet with 471 points while Div. II Wheeling Jesuit was second. The Lady Knights finished 9th out of 13 teams but third among NAIA schools as they beat Asbury (Ky.), Milligan (Tenn.), and WV Tech. Union finished third for the girls as well while Brenau (Ga.) won the women's meet.

Sophomore Georgi Krastev (Pinellas Park, FL) helped start the night by getting second place in the 200 Backstroke with a time of 1:50.3, a very good swim for this point of the season. Fellow sophomore Nick Souza (SO/Williamsburg, VA) won the consolation heat in the backstroke with a season's best time of 1:59.1. Junior David Lambert (Winter Haven, FL) continued the men's terrific night by winning the 100 freestyle and breaking the meet record with a time of 45.80

Other notable swims from the men's side were sophomore Ryan Frayne (Virginia Beach, VA) finishing 5th in the 200 breaststroke and 400 yard IM and sophomore Drew Gurley (Newport News, VA) finishing 4th in 200 Butterfly. To wrap up the night, the men's relay team (Krastev, Elliot Boon (SO/Somerset, UK), Cameron Dixon (SO/Gerrardstown, WV), Lambert) finished 3rd coming from behind in 5th place.

The women had a successful night as well, with sophomore Katie Keyes (Boone, NC) having a great swim in consolations while senior Triniti Counter (Scottsbluff, NE) finished 3rd in the 200 Butterfly with a time of 2:12.8.

On Friday night the women's 200 Medley Relay finished seventh overall. Leading the relay was Choolwe Lourens (FR/Lusaka, Zambia) (Back), Katie Keyes (SO/Boone, NC) (Breast), Triniti Counter (Fly), and Tarryn Holmes (FR/Johannesburg, South Africa) (Fr) with a time of 1:55.09.

The men's 200 yard medley relay team won as well with great swims by Krastev, (Back), Boon (Breast), Gurley, (Fly), Lambert, (Free). SAU broke the meet record by over 1.5 seconds with a great time of 1:31.63 topping meet winner WJU by a full second.

Another win for the night included Krastev winning the 100 Backstroke out touching his opponent from Emmanuel College (Ga.) by a tenth, with a solid time of 50.26.

Every member of both the women's and men's team has scored in the top 16, including Lourens, Keyes, Holmes, and Cameron Dixon (SO/Gerrardstown, WV). Top 8 finishes include Triniti Counter (6th in butterfly), freshman Franky Gilligan (Cornelius, NC) (100 back), Lambert (50 & 100 free), Josh Dixon (SO/Durban, S. Africa), sophomore Nick Souza (Williamsburg, VA) (200 free), Drew Gurley (200 fly), Ryan Frayne, and Elliot Boon (100 breast-58.49).

Junior David Lambert (Winter Haven, FL) won the 50 yard freestyle in 20.6 seconds setting a meet record in the process. Teammate Elliot Boon also did well placing 6th in 21.4 seconds. Counter also became the first woman from SAU to place at the conference meet coming in 4th in the 200 yard IM in 2:12.6.

The men's 200 free relay team of Elliot Boon (SO/Somerset, UK), Lambert, Drew Gurley (SO/Newport News, VA), and Josh Dixon (SO/Durban, S. Africa) won their race against 11 other team Thursday night while setting a meet and conference record in the process with an outstanding time of 1:23.64, which is a second faster than the next time and a Div. II best.

The men's 400 yard medley team of Krastev, Frayne, Gurley, and Lambert also placed second in 3:23.15, two seconds faster than the rest of the field but fell to the first place team of WJU by two seconds as well.

The men's 800 yard relay team of Gurley, Souza, C. Dixon, and Frayne also placed 4th with a good time of 7:03.33.

Both teams are now looking ahead for NAIA Nationals in Oklahoma City from March 4-7.

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