The Wingate University men’s and women’s swimming teams maintain their leads in the 2013 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships Friday night at the Mecklenburg County Aquatics Center (MCAC) pool in downtown Charlotte. The Wingate women’s 200 Medley Relay team had a huge night, posting an “A” Cut while setting school, meet and conference records with a time of 1:42.55.
On the team leader board, the Bulldog men have 556 points. Queens (462) and Johns Hopkins (330) occupy spots two and three on the men’s charts. The Wingate women expanded their lead to 46.5 points, as the Bulldogs (520.5) and Johns Hopkins (474) are the number one and the two teams on the tote board. Queens (364) is third.
“We are continuing to ride the wave,” Wingate head coach Kirk Sanocki says. “Our phenomenal swimming continues. I am very impressed with the way our team is handling themselves in a very tight team battle.”
“This meet is as much fun as any meet I can remember,” Sanocki says. “The energy in the pool…for me personally…reminds me why I got into coaching in the first place. Teammates who swim the same event are encouraging each other. People are not worried about who gets the credit. I can say without reservation…this meet has been an absolute blast for me and my team.”
Wingate junior Charlotte Cornet (Brussels, Belgium) earned two victories. Individually, she won the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:04.82. Earlier in the day, she swam the second (breast) leg on Wingate’s victorious 200 Medley Relay quartet (1:42.55). Cornet was joined by sophomore Jasmine Arzadon (Lorton, Va.) and freshmen Rita Koryokova (Omsk, Russia) and Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.).
Bulldog junior Katie Pheil (Ocala, Fla.) earned two silver medals, setting two school records in the process. She was second in the 200 Freestyle (1:50.26) and the 100 Backstroke (55.81). Wingate finished two-three-four in the 100 Back, with Koryokova (56.11) and junior Valerie Dembny (57.16, Bremen, Germany) claiming third and fourth place, respectively.
Dembny broke her own school record with a 55.79 time in the 100 Butterfly. The 2012 Capital One Academic All-America® team member was second, followed by Arzadon (57.26) and Koryokova (58.34) in sixth and eighth-place, respectively. Bulldog junior Alexandra Andrechuk (Ajax, Ontario) and sophomore Kellie Gervas (Imperial, Pa.) were fourth (4:31.35) and fifth (4:32.50) in the 400 Individual Medley.
The Wingate women won two “B” finals Friday night. Sophomore Luisa Santiesteban (Chihuahua, Mexico) won the 400 Individual Medley “B” final with a time of 4:39.17. Senior Elly Speer (Manly, Sydney, Australia) took the checkered flag in the 200 Freestyle “B” final with a wall-touch of 1:53.69.
Wingate freshman Ossian Arvidsson (Kungälv, Sweden) made a big statement, defeating two-time defending BMC and NCAA champion and junior teammate Marko Blazevski (Skopje, Macedonia) to win the 400 Individual Medley with a meet record time of 3:56.19. Blazevski was second (3:58.46), while sophomore David Collum (DeLand, Fla.) was fifth (4:03.35).
Interestingly enough, the former BMC meet record-holder in the 400 Individual Medley was Wingate All-American Kyle Corcoran (Kent, Wash.), who swam a 3:56.21 at the 2008 BMC championship meet. Corcoran (’10) was Wingate’s 400 IM standard-bearer until Blazevski’s emergence.
Wingate had five swimmers in the men’s 100 Breaststroke final, with senior Rory Julyan (Cape Town, South Africa) touching first with a time of 53.36. Both Julyan and classmate Spencer Waganaar (Satellite Beach, Fla.) established NCAA Division II “A” Cuts in the 100 Breast. Waganaar earned a silver medal with his time of 54.31.
Bulldog freshmen Damian Smalls (Charlotte, N.C.) and Damjan Petrovski (Skopje, Macedonia) were fifth (56.20) and seventh (56.80) in the 100 Breaststroke. Collum was sixth with his 56.32 clocking. Julyan, Waganaar and Collum were second, third and fourth in last year’s 100 Breaststroke championship race.
Wingate junior Tim Kniffler (Mulheim, Germany) and sophomore Issam Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) were fourth (50.14) and seventh (50.76), respectively, in the 100 Backstroke. Zeraidi was sixth in the 200 Freestyle (1:40.07), finishing one spot behind freshman Dylon Johnson (1:39.78, Fletcher, N.C.).
In the 100 Butterfly, junior William Meagher (Eagen, Minn.) was sixth with a time of 49.94. Wingate freshman Niklas Andersson (Viken, Sweden) won the 100 Butterfly “B” final with his time of 50.09. Earlier in the day, Meagher swam a leg on Wingate’s third-place 200 Medley Relay team (1:30.08). He was joined by Julyan and juniors Tim Kniffler (Mulheim, Germany) and Reed Miller (Mobile, Ala.).
The BMC Championships conclude Saturday, with the preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m. The finals are slated to start at 5 p.m.
