After a successful second day of competition, the Queens University of Charlotte men's and women's swim teams held first in the conference championships for the Bluegrass Mountain Conference taking first in all but one of the night's races on Thursday, February 11, 2016. The team added two national records to the list as Patricia Castro-Ortega found places in both new marks while Zachary Phelps broke a school record.
The women's team tallied a score of 648 to take a two hundred point lead over the competition. Wingate held second place with 445 points while Carson-Newman grabbed third with 395 points.
The men's team captured 602.5 points at the end of the day reaching above Wingate, who secured second place with 444.5 points, and Carson-Newman, who secured third with 346 points.
"Another action packed night," said Head Coach Jeff Dugdale, "with Patricia Castro-Ortega breaking her national record in the 500 freestyle. She was also part of a national record breaking 400 medley relay. Freshman, Kyrie Dobson stepped-up tonight and won the 50 freestyle. Also very impressive tonight was Zachary Phelps who won the 50 freestyle and led off with a school record for the 100 backstroke with a 47.3 [in the 400 medley relay]. The team is gaining momentum and looking forward to tomorrow's events."
Castro-Ortega surpassed her previous national record time of 4:42.05 in the very first event of the night, the 500 yard freestyle. She would find the wall with a time of 4:40.65 as the team looked to start the night strong. Her second national record was with teammates Hannah Peiffer, Brittney Phelan, and Kyrie Dobson, who respectively swam that order with Castro-Ortega taking the third leg of the race. The four broke a two-year-old mark with a time of 3:39.03 in the 400 medley relay.
On the men's side, the 500 yard freestyle led Nicholas Arakelian to the top time extending his way to the wall to capture a 4:25.48 and a NCAA "A" standard.
The men's team found four straight touches in the 200 individual medley with Inigo Alarcia leading the way with a time of 1:48.67. Nate Dacruz placed second in the event with a time of 1:50.04. He would swim a 1:49.64 during the morning preliminary races. Devyn Hughes touched for third with a 1:50.17 while Ben Taylor touched fourth for a 1:50.03.
With a NCAA "A" standard swim, Dobson topped the competition with a time of 23.17 in the 50 yard freestyle. The men's side placed Phelps and Ben Mayes at back-to-back finish. Phelps ranked first with a time of 20.21 with Mayes in second with a time of 20.32.
The night concluded with a first place finish for the men's 400 medley relay with leadoff from Phelps who tabbed a school record of 47.31 in the 100 yard backstroke. Rostyslav Fedyna, Dion Dreesens, and Taylor, completed the group as the four combined for a NCAA qualifying time of 3:11.82.
The team also saw Caroline Arakelian and Josefina Lord-Taylor place in the top three of the 200 individual medley. Arakelian touched with a time of 2:02.56 for second place while Lord-Taylor found the wall for third place securing a time of 2:03.29. Both would qualify for an NCAA "B" standard.
Competition begins again tomorrow as the team sees the preliminary races at 10 a.m., and the finals at 6 p.m., that night.
Wingate
The Wingate University men's and women's swimming teams are second in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship meet at the Rock Hill Aquatics Center after Thursday's competition.
Twelve women's teams and 11 men's squads are participating in the 18th annual BMC meet.
On the women's team leader board, Wingate has 445 points. Queens University of Charlotte is first with 648 markers, while Carson-Newman University is third with 395. On the men's side, Wingate has 444.5 points. Queens has 602.5 points to lead the men's team race, while Carson-Newman is third with 346 points.
Wingate women's recap
Bulldog junior Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) won the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 1:59.93. Petrenko's gold medal time is a meet record and an NCAA Division II "A" cut. In the final event of the evening, Petrenko helped the Navy Blue and Vegas Gold Bulldogs take second place in the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:39.85.
Petrenko's relay mates include juniors Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) and Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) and senior Armony Dumur (Amiens, France). Weiss was seventh in the 200 Individual Medley with her time of 2:05.83.
Dumur led a 2-3-8 showing for Wingate in the 50 Freestyle. Her silver medal time was 23.24. Bulldog senior Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.) and junior Caitlin Coughlin (Cochranville, Pa.) were third (23.36) and eighth (24.08), respectively.
Wingate senior Julie Wessler (Sprockhövel, Germany) earned a sixth-place finish in the 500 Freestyle with her time of 5:00.32. Two Bulldogs won "B" finals Thursday night. Redshirt sophomore Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia) touched first in the 200 Individual Medley "B" final (2:05.93), while freshman Maria Madsen (Dragoer, Denmark) won the 50 Freestyle "B" final (23.87).
Wingate men's recap
Four Bulldogs swam in the 500 Freestyle final. Sophomore Jerome Heidrich (Hamburg, Germany) and junior Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany) were second (4:29.35) and third (4:30.31), respectively. WU senior Ossian Arvidsson (Kungälv, Sweden) was fourth (4:31.12), while junior Øystein Fjeldberg (Oslo, Norway) claimed sixth place (4:33.59).
Klüver and Heidrich swam the first and last legs on Wingate's bronze-medal winning 400 Medley Relay quartet. The Bulldogs posted a time of 3:17.65. Senior Roman Kanyuka (Moscow, Russia) and freshman Niklas Martin (Kempton, Germany) joined Klüver and Heidrich on Wingate's final swim of the evening.
In the 50 Freestyle, Wingate junior Academic All-America Lucas Cuadros (Cali, Colombia) was fourth with a time of 20.60. Bulldog redshirt freshman Lennart Queiss (Langen, Germany) was eighth in the same race with his time of 21.20.
Catawba
Catawba's Marcia-Mariel Erhart swam to her second school record in as many days on Thursday at the 2016 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships being held at the Rock Hill YMCA. After two days of events, the Catawba women stand eighth and the men ninth.
Erhart broke the 500 free record in the morning prelim to qualify for the A Final. She would swim under that time in the final as she finished eighth in a time of 5:04.07, a second and half faster than the prelim.
Amy Cujas earned a B Final swim in the 50 free and finished 15th (24.52). Cujas broke her own 50 free mark in the prelim with a time of 24.22. The finals time equaled the fourth fastest swim in school history. Cujas and Erhart teamed with Palmer Benson and Nadine Brockmann to finish seventh in the 400 medley relay. The time of 4:01.33 was the seventh fastest in school history.
The men had two top 10 all-time swims in the 500 free. Aly Hegazi would swim the B Final and placed 14th with his time of 4:37.23. That was the fourth best time in school history. Michael King had the ninth best all-time swim and finished 20th with a time of 4:40.31.
Jevgenij Gamper won the C Final of the 200 IM. His time of 1:53.98 was the seventh fastest on record and placed him 17th. Gamper, King, Hegazi and Dominik Brus went seventh in the men's 400 medley relay. Their time of 3:24.23 was the fourth fastest in school history.
