The Wingate University men’s and women’s swimming teams took home the hardware Saturday night, sweeping the 2013 Bluegrass Mountain Conference championships. The Bulldog men capture their sixth title in a row, while the Wingate women collect their third crown (and first since 2005). The 15th annual BMC championship meet was held at the Mecklenburg County Aquatics Center (MCAC) pool in downtown Charlotte.
The Wingate men compiled 789 points during the four-day event. Queens University of Charlotte was second with 643 points. Johns Hopkins (Md.) was third with 481 points. The Bulldog women posted 710.5 points. The JHU Blue Jays (661) and the Queens Royals (481) were second and third. Wingate head coach Kirk Sanocki earned the Bob Busby Award for Coach of the Year on both the men’s and women’s side. Sanocki has nine Busby Awards (six men, three women).
Wingate junior Katie Pheil (Ocala, Fla.) made a big statement in the 200 Backstroke, touching first with a time of 1:57.38. Pheil’s time was an NCAA Division II “A” cut time, in addition to establishing meet, conference and school records. Freshman teammate Rita Koryokova (Omsk, Russia) was sixth in the 200 Backstroke with her 2:03.24 time. Koryokova’s time also broke Wingate’s previous school record.
Pheil and Koryokova finished their day with another school record, helping Wingate finish third in the 400 Freestyle Relay with a time of 3:29.22. Pheil swam the first leg, while Koryokova swam the third. They were joined by junior Valerie Dembny (Bremen, Germany) and freshman Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.).
Wingate senior Elly Speer (Manly, Sydney, Australia) was second in the 200 Butterfly, establishing a school record with her time of 2:04.83. Sophomore Kellie Gervas (Imperial, Pa.) was sixth in the same race. Gervas posted a time of 2:08.74. Gervas was fifth in the 400 Individual Medley Friday.
Bulldog junior Charlotte Cornet (Brussels, Belgium) completed her first BMC meet in style, claiming the silver medal in the 200 Breaststroke (2:20.60). Sophomore Luisa Santiesteban (Chihuahua, Mexico) was fourth in the 200 Breaststroke (2:25.15), while junior Alexandra Andrechuk (Ajax, Ontario) was sixth (2:26.25).
Wingate senior distance swimmer Paige Schmidt (Clearwater, Fla.) concluded her brilliant BMC run with a fourth-place finish in the 1650 Freestyle (17:08.52). Schmidt was the 2010 BMC Swimmer of the Year. Redshirt freshman Julie Wessler (Sprockhövel, Germany) and freshman Laura Brannan (Kennesaw, Ga.) were fifth (17:15.92) and seventh (18:10.72), respectively, in the same race.
The Wingate women have three BMC championship trophies (2004, 2005, 2013) and six second-place team finishes (2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012) to their credit.
The Bulldogs put an exclamation mark on their sixth consecutive crown, winning the meet-ending 400 Freestyle Relay with an NCAA Division II “A” cut time of 2:58.18. Wingate entered the 400 Free Relay event as the number five seed. Team members include seniors Rory Julyan (Cape Town, South Africa) and Spencer Waganaar (Satellite Beach, Fla.), sophomore Issam Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) and freshman Dylon Johnson (Fletcher, N.C.).
Julyan was second in the 100 Freestyle (44.71), while Johnson was seventh (45.50). Wingate junior Reed Miller (Mobile, Ala.) won the 100 Freestyle “C” final with a time of 45.70. Julyan, Johnson and Miller posted NCAA Division II “B” cuts in the 100 Freestyle Saturday.
Wingate junior Marko Blazevski (Skopje, Macedonia) won the 200 Butterfly for the second year in a row, recording a triumphant time of 1:49.35. Freshman teammate Niklas Andersson (Viken, Sweden) won his second “B” final in as many nights, touching first in the 200 Fly “B” final with a time of 1:52.19. Andersson also won the 100 Fly “B” final.
Bulldog junior Tim Kniffler (Mulheim, Germany) placed another gold medal around his next, winning the 200 Backstroke with a time of 1:47.15. Kniffler breaks his own school record by 75/one-hundredths of a second. Sophomore teammates Chris Morris (Millville, N.J.) and Samuel Knapp (Madison, Ala.) were seventh (1:51.35) and eighth (1:51.90), respectively, in the 200 Backstroke.
Wingate freshman Damjan Petrovski (Skopje, Macedonia) won the 200 Breaststroke (2:00.52), out-touching teammate Waganaar (2:01.00) by 48/one-hundredths of a second. Petrovski earns his first individual BMC title. Bulldog freshman Damian Smalls (Charlotte, N.C.) was fifth in the 200 Breaststroke, posting a time of 2:03.37.
Several Bulldogs will continue to train for the NCAA Division II championships in Birmingham, Ala. March 6-9.
