By T.J. Baker
The Bulldogs 200-yard freestyle relay team of Pheil, Zucco, Gilbert and Fish would continue the recording-breaking finals success, breaking the conference record in the event with a wall-time of 1:34.52, .45 seconds faster than the previous Johns Hopkins University record set last year. Johns Hopkins would take .27 seconds off their 2012 time of 1:34.97 and go on to take second the event, outstretching the Royals by .02 seconds. Limestone College (1:34.91) and SCAD (1:34.91) went four, five, both out-swimming the 2012 record time.
The Wingate men would just miss the NCAA D2 A cut in the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay, but still come away with 40-points and a first place finish in the event. The Bulldogs did manage to clinch a NCAA D2 B cut for their preliminary seed time of 1:23.65. Queens University of Charlotte swam a tight race and came away with a second place finish. Catawba College (1:21.29), Johns Hopkins University (1:21.67) and Fairmont State University (1:22.51) round out the top five.
The Royals’ Lillian Gordy would defeat a tough competitor and teammate Meredith Bourdreaux to repeat as the conference champion in the 500-yard freestyle. The teammates would be locked as the final 50-yards neared its end, but a late Gordy burst would prove to be the difference maker. Both girls earned a NCAA D2 B cut earlier in the day.
2012 Macedonian Olympian, Marko Blazevski, scored the fastest preliminary time in the men’s 500-yard freestyle. Blazevski shaved four seconds off his preliminary time en route to a first place, finals finish. Alex Menke (4:30.17) and Christian Yeatts (4:33.87) would go two, four for the Royals in the event, while Cole Dutton (4:33.52) and Makis Jorgensen (4:34.04) would go three, five.
Queens University of Charlotte picked up their second finals win of the night behind Caroline Arakelian’s 200-yard IM time of 2:02.18. Arakelian cut. 49 seconds off her seed time to earn a NCAA D2 A cut.
The Bulldog’s Spencer Waganaar tallied the team’s second recording-breaking finish of the night with a wall-time of 1:46.71 in the 200-yard IM. Sebastian Holmberg (1:48.99) took second in the event to earn Catawba College their first top three finish of the night. Wingate had three swimmers finish in the top five of the event, with Johns Hopkins rounding out the top five.
Fairmont State University’s Kathryn Saurborn repeated as 50-yard freestyle champion, breaking the previous conference record with a time of 23.25. Raza Tahan (23:55) claimed a second place finish for Limestone College, while Anastasia Bogdanovski (23.76) and Kylie Ternes (23.82) went three, four for Johns Hopkins University.
Washington & Lee’s Rick Sykes tapped a 20:15 finish in the men’s 50-yard freestyle, earning the team’s first win of the night. The tight finish was only decided by .02, but would earn Queens University of Charlotte 16-points behind the swimming of Michael Trice. Sykes sealed a NCAA D2 A spot during the preliminaries, while Trice punched his ticket for a NCAA D2 B cut.
The Bulldogs and Royals would trade-off a pair of recording-breaking performances in the men’s and women’s 400-yard medley relay as day two came to a close.
Day three preliminaries are scheduled to begin at 10am, with finals to follow at 6pm.
