Catawba
Catawba freshman Marcia-Mariel Erhart set a new school mark in the 1000 free on Wednesday, while the women's 200 medley relay squad also set a new standard on the opening night of the 2016 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships being held through Saturday at the Rock Hill YMCA. After six events, the Catawba men stand sixth and the women are 11th.
Erhart smashed the existing 1000 free record by nearly six seconds. She swam a time of 10:29:53 and finished ninth to earn 20 team points. The 200 medley relay team consisting of Paula Garcia, Cassie Shear, Nadine Brockmann and Amy Cujas went eighth in a time of 1:50.19.
On the men's side, freshman Aly Hegazi posted the third fasted 1000 free in school history with a swim of 9:45.13. He picked up 44 points with the sixth-place swim. The 200 medley relay team (1:34.76) of Dominik Brus, Jevgenij Gamper, Michael King and Arnold Blohme was eighth and the 800 free relay team (7:11.84) of Hegazi, Rafal Baran, Robert McCue and King placed ninth.
Queens
The Queens University of Charlotte men's and women's swim teams capitalized on day one of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference swim meet on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. The Royals found their way to the top in all but one of the night's events as they totaled three national records.
Queens finished the day in first on the women's side with 261 points ahead of second place Wingate with 160 and third place Carson-Newman with 147. The men would rank second at the conclusion of the night with 178 points. The team would trail Carson-Newman who tallied 185 as Limestone placed third with 166 points.
"We had a great first night breaking three national records," said Jeff Dugdale. "We look forward to a strong second day tomorrow. This team is built to get better throughout all four days. I can't wait to celebrate more great swims tomorrow."
It was back-to-back top tier swims for the men's and women's 200 yard medley relay. The women's team of Hannah Peiffer, Shelly Prayson, Patricia Castro-Ortega, and Kyrie Dobson, respectively, flew through the water to tab a time of 1:39.49. The group would shatter the previous national record time of 1:40.09 set by Drury during nationals last year. The men's team featuring Zachary Phelps, Rostyslav Fedyna, Felipe de Oliveira, and Ben Mayes, respectively went 1:27.12 narrowly missing the pool record but securing a NCAA "B" standard cut.
"It was very satisfying in the fact that the girls were the first women's team (nationally) to go under [a time of] 1:40 in the 200 medley relay," said Coach Dugdale. "We had an excellent breaststroke split by freshman Shelly Payson. Overall just great team work and a great start of the week." He continued by saying "The men opened up with a nice win and an NCAA qualifying time in the 200 medley relay. The team saw a nice butterfly split from Felipe de Oliveira."
The women's 800 yard freestyle relay brought more success to the team as Castro-Ortega's leadoff swim saw a national record, grabbing a 1:44.44 split for a 200 freestyle swim. The fast start was propelled by Caroline Arakelian, Josefina Lord-Taylor, and McKenzie Stevens as the four took a new NCAA record at 7:12.96.
"We saw Patricia Castro-Ortega take the first leg of the 800 yard free relay, out in a [time of] 1:44, breaking her existing national record and giving our women a nice lead. As a whole all four women were under a 1:50 [time] which broke their national record from last year," said Coach Dugdale.
In the individual swims, Stevens led the group to a first place finish in the 1000 yard freestyle. Teammates, Kathryn Johnston and Lauren Frizzell captured second and third, respectively, as the Royals swept the competition. Johnston saw her way to a time of 10:11.04 while Frizzell captured a time of 10:11.97. All three would qualify for NCAA "B" standard time.
"It was very nice in the fact that the teammates got to work together and demonstrate what they had worked for all year. I look forward to seeing them carrying that dominance into NCAAs," said Dugdale in reference to the race.
The men's side of the 1000 yard freestyle featured Dion Dreesens at the top as he took a time of 9:14.08 for the first place finish and an NCAA "B" standard. Jackson Kojima grabbed a fourth place swim for the Royals reaching inside the NCAA qualifying time with a 9:33.25.
The men's 800 free relay team of Dreesens, Ben Taylor, Hector Tricas, and Nicholas Arakelian, respectively, touched the wall for a 6:30.91 to place well under the NCAA "B" standard cut and secure second overall in the race.
The Royals continue the conference meet tomorrow, seeing day two of competition.
Wingate
The Wingate University swimming teams finished the first night of the 18th annual Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship meet with a thrilling victory in the men's 800 Freestyle Relay. The BMC event is being held at the Rock Hill Aquatics Center Wednesday through Saturday, Feb. 10-13 (championship central; live video stream).
Through the first six events, the Wingate women are second on the team leader board. The Bulldog men are fourth. Queens University of Charlotte tops the women's leader board, while Carson-Newman University is number one in the men's team standings.
Wingate Men
Bulldog senior Ossian Arvidsson (Kungälv, Sweden) swam the anchor leg as Wingate won the 800 Freestyle Relay with an NCAA Division II "A" cut time of 6:29.12. Queens was a close second at 6:30.91. Arvidsson was joined by sophomore Jerome Heidrich (Hamburg, Germany), junior Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany) and redshirt freshman Lennart Queiss (Langen, Germany).
In addition to the gold medal in the 800 Freestyle Relay, the Bulldogs earned two silver medals Wednesday night. Freshman Camden Wunderlich (Snohomish, Wash.) was second in the 1000 Freestyle with his time of 9:25.99. The 200 Medley Relay quartet was second with a time of 1:30.04. The 200 Medley Relay quartet includes freshman Niklas Martin (Kempton, Germany), senior Roman Kanyuka (Moscow, Russia), junior Mehdi Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) and junior Lucas Cuadros (Cali, Colomba).
Wingate Women
Both Wingate relay teams claimed silver medals Wednesday night. In the 200 Medley Relay, the Bulldogs finished second with a time of 1:40.55, breaking the old BMC meet record with the 2016 NCAA Division II "A" Cut time. Seniors Rita Koryukova (Omsk, Russia), Armony Dumur (Amiens, France) and Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.) were joined by junior Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) in the 200 Medley Relay event.
In the 800 Freestyle Relay, juniors Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) and Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) swam the first two legs as Wingate narrowly missed an "A" Cut with its time of 7:24.29. They were joined by freshmen Hanna Van Horen (Hofstade, Belgium) and Maria Madsen (Dragoer, Denmark).
Wingate senior Julie Wessler (Sprockhövel, Germany) was fifth in the 1000 Freestyle with her time of 10:12.87, adding another all-conference trophy to her mantel. In the BMC meet, the top six (6) individual finishers and the top three (3) relay teams earn All-BMC honors.
