Queens Men
The Queens University of Charlotte men's swim team found their way back to the podium for the conference title after taking 1561 points for the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship Meet. The four-day meet, which ended on Saturday, February 13, 2016, saw the Royals stand atop the conference and sweep in the awards with Dion Dreesens being named Swimmer of the Year and Head Coach Jeff Dugdale being named Men's Head Coach of the Year.
Wingate took second on the board reaching 1193 while Limestone took 990 points. John Hopkins finished the meet in fourth with 820.5 points, as Carson-Newman finished fifth with 812 points, SCAD finished sixth with 587.5 points, Catawba finished seventh with 442 points, Fairmont State finish eighth with 441 points, Lenoir Rhyne finished ninth with 319 points, Davis and Elkins College finished 10th with 276 points, and West Virginia Wesleyan College finished 11th with 226 points.
"I enjoyed watching our men's program continue to grow into a national contender," said Head Coach Jeff Dugdale. "The men's program stood strong against a very formidable opponent in Wingate and the many other programs within the Bluegrass Mountain Conference. We look forward to seeing the results come in from the other conferences across the nation and (will) look to be very competitive the second week of March in Indianapolis [Ind.]."
As with the other nights, Queens found a record to break. The men's 400 freestyle relay team of Dion Dreesens, Zachary Phelps, Ben Taylor, and Ben Mayes, took the new meet record time by over a second as the four reached the wall in 2:56.46 for the first place finish.
Phelps found the night's first individual automatic qualifying time reaching the wall for a first place finish in the 200 yard backstroke. Phelps's time of 1:44.81 led the pool by nearly a three second gap.
Dreesens tabbed the team's second automatic national qualifier taking the lead spot in the 100 yard freestyle. With a time of 43.84, Dreesens fell under the NCAA "A" standard mark by one-hundredth of a second to earn a trip to nationals. Just off Dreesens heels, Mayes reached the wall for a third overall finish in the race and a time of 44.80 to make an NCAA "B" time.
With another first place finish for the team, Rostyslav Fedyna made it to the wall with a 1:57.60 for the fastest time in the pool in the 200 yard breaststroke. Inigo Alarcia kept it a Royals' event, touching the wall for second place with a 1:59.61 finish. Both athletes found NCAA "B" standard times.
Hector Tricas placed Queens in the top three of the mile. Tricas dropped four seconds from his preliminary time to reach an NCAA qualifying time of 15:31.64. Nicholas Arakelian touched for fourth place in the race with a time of 15:51.63 while Jackson Kojima tabbed fifth for the team with a time of 16:00.69. Arakelian and Kojima also secured NCAA "B" standard times.
Nate Dacruz led the team in the 200 yard butterfly seeking a time of 1:51.20 in the final race and a time of 1:50.62 in the preliminary race that morning. He would finish third overall. Tricas placed right behind Dacruz, sealing the fourth place finish for the team with a time of 1:52.00 a hundredth of a second off from his preliminary time that morning as both finished with qualifying times.
Queens will host the Royal Open on February 19, as the team looks to expand the squad traveling to Indianapolis, Ind., in March.
Queens Women
After leading the competition for the entirety of the meet, the Queens University of Charlotte women's swim team claimed the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship title for the second year in a row on Saturday, February 13, 2016. Patricia Castro-Ortega was named the Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive year as Head Coach Jeff Dugdale claimed Coach of the Year for the team.
The Royals saw their victory with 1634 points. Wingate placed second with 1269.5 as Carson-Newman rounded out the top three with 1041 points. Johns Hopkins combined for fourth in the competition with 873.5 as Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and Limestone went fifth and sixth, respectively, with 791.5 points for SCAD and 520 for Limestone. Lenoir Rhyne tallied 352 points for seventh place, Catawba tallied 317 points for eighth place, Fairmont State tallied 259 points for ninth place, and Converse tallied 244 points for tenth. Davis & Elkins grabbed 11th place with 238 points while West Virginia Wesleyan rounded out the meet in 12th with 216.5 points.
"I really enjoyed watching the depth of our women throughout the weekend," said Head Coach Jeff Dugdale. "Our women's program, led by our three captains Caroline Arakelian, Hannah Peiffer, and Shane Knight, have a very clear vision on where they would like their program to head, and made a strong statement this last weekend in the way they competed against a very formidable opponent in Wingate University."
Finishing the meet strong, Castro-Ortega set a new meet record for the 100 yard freestyle. Her automatic qualifying time of 49.19 earned her a first place finish. Shelly Prayson was not far off the mark as she tabbed the third place touch with a 50.79, NCAA "B" standard.
Brittney Phelan added another meet record to the team's list as she swam a 2:14.97 in the preliminary races, just shy of an automatic qualifying time. In the finals, Phelan would fall just short of the top swim, taking a second place finish off a 2:15.95.
McKenzie Stevens landed atop the race in the 1650 yard freestyle dropping nearly 10 seconds from her time as she touched for a 16:56.83. Her time would qualify her for an NCAA "B" standard. The team would make a run, placing three more swimmers in the top spots of the heat as Meridith Boudreaux ranked fourth with a time of 17:04.88. Kathryn Johnston tabbed fifth for the Royals reaching the wall in a time of 17:05.86 while Lauren Frizzell secured the sixth place finish with a time of 17:25.91. All three had qualifying times.
The team narrowly missed the meet record in the 400 yard freestyle relay as the foursome of Castro-Ortega, Caroline Arakelian, Kyrie Dobson, and Shelly Prayson, took down a time of 3:20.99 to make their way to nationals with an automatic bid. The four pushed to create over a two second gap with the pool.
It was three back-to-back finishes for the team in the 200 yard backstroke starting with Arakelian reaching the second overall finish with a 1:58.87. She found a slightly faster swim during the morning preliminary races taking a 1:58.66 for her NCAA "B" time. Hannah Peiffer placed third overall all as she clocked a 2:01.43. Linda Baron rounded out the group with a 2:03.77 as she and Peiffer both met qualifying times.
Clocking a 2:01.95, Josefina Lord-Taylor met an NCAA "B" standard mark and earned the team a second place finish for the 200 yard butterfly.
The team hosts the Royals Open on February 19 as Queens looks to add to the list for the NCAAs.
Wingate
The nationally-ranked Wingate University men's and women's swimming teams won four individual events on the final night of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship meet at the Rock Hill Aquatics Center Saturday. On the team leader board, both Bulldog teams finished second (complete BMC results).
The NCAA Division II number five Wingate women concluded the 2016 BMC event with 1269.5 points, only 1.5 points less than the team's 2015 total. Number one Queens University of Charlotte won the 2016 women's title with 1634 points. Number 17 Carson-Newman was third with 1041 points.
On the men's side, the number 13 Bulldogs compiled 1193 points. Number one Queens posted 1561 points to take the championship belt. Wingate scored 97.5 points more than its 2015 total, while Queens added 13 points to its 2015 final number. Limestone was third with 990 points. Twelve women's teams and 11 men's squads participated in the 18th annual BMC meet.
Wingate women's recap
Wingate's junior class won three individual events Saturday night. Junior Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) got things started with her triumph in the 200 Backstroke. Arkhipova touched first with her BMC meet record time of 1:55.86. Saturday was a good night for Wingate's backstroke corps, as sophomore Mariona Espinalt (Barcelona, Spain) and freshman Elizabeth McDevitt (Roswell, Ga.) won the 200 Backstroke "B" and "C" finals, respectively.
Bulldog junior Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) won the 200 Breaststroke for the second time in her career, edging Queens graduate student Brittney Phelan (Weston, Fla.) by .05 seconds. Weiss posted a time of 2:15.90, while Phelan touched with a time of 2:15.95. Wingate redshirt sophomore Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia) was third in the same race with her time of 2:17.17. Kosheleva won the 100 and the 200 Breaststroke at the 2015 BMC event.
Wingate junior Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) recorded an NCAA Division II "A" cut on her way to winning the 200 Butterfly. Petrenko's time of 1:59.48 was two seconds-plus ahead of the second-place performer. Bulldog junior Caitlin Coughlin (Cochranville, Pa.) was eighth in the 200 Butterfly with her time of 2:09.30.
The Bulldogs concluded the 2016 BMC meet with a second-place performance in the 400 Freestyle Relay (3:23.19). Wingate's quartet included Petrenko, Arkhipova and seniors Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.) and Armony Dumur (Amiens, France).
Earlier in the day, Fish and Dumur finished fourth (51.54) and fifth (51.59), respectively, in the 100 Freestyle. Four Bulldogs made the 100 Free final, as freshman Maria Madsen (Dragoer, Denmark) was seventh with a time of 51.79 and fellow freshman Hanna Van Horen (Hofstade, Belgium) was eighth with a 52.27 clocking.
Wingate senior distance swimmer Julie Wessler (Sprockhövel, Germany) was second in the 1650 Freestyle with her time of 16:59.91. Bulldog junior Erika Kaspersson (Eslöv, Sweden) was eighth in the 1650 Freestyle with her time of 17:38.18. Wessler won both the 1000 and the 1650 Freestyle races at the 2015 BMC event.
Wingate men's recap
In keeping with the class of 2017 theme, Wingate junior Øystein Fjeldberg (Oslo, Norway) won the men's 200 Butterfly with a time of 1:51.20. He out-touched Bulldog freshman Niklas Martin (Kempton, Germany), who claimed second place with his time of 1:51.70. WU senior Ossian Arvidsson (Kungälv, Sweden) was sixth with a time of 1:52.45.
Earlier in the evening, Wingate sophomore Jerome Heidrich (Hamburg, Germany) led a 2-4-7 Bulldog finish in the 100 Freestyle. The 2015 BMC 100 Freestyle gold medalst, Heidrich recorded a time of 44.33. His winning 2015 time was 44.49. WU redshirt freshman Lennart Queiss (Langen, Germany) and junior Lucas Cuadros (Cali, Colombia) were fourth (44.92) and seventh (45.80), respectively, in the same race.
The Bulldog men matched the Wingate women with a second-place performance in the 400 Freestyle Relay (2:57.89). Heidrich swam the first leg, with Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany), Cuadros and Queiss sealing the deal (in this order). Klüver was third in the 200 Backstroke with his time of 1:48.93.
Wingate seniors Damjan Petrovski (Skopje, Macedonia) and Roman Kanyuka (Moscow, Russia) were fifth (2:01.93) and sixth (2:02.24), respectively, in the 200 Breaststroke Saturday night. Bulldog sophomore Robin Siegel (Friedberg, Germany) also made the 200 Breaststroke final. Siegel finished eighth with his time of 2:03.59.
Selected Wingate student-athletes will compete in the Royal Invitational Friday and Saturday (Feb. 19-20) at the Levine Center on the Queens University of Charlotte campus. Eleven Bulldog swimming student-athletes competed in the 2015 Royal Invitational event.
Catawba
Catawba wrapped up the final day of the 2016 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships on Saturday with two more school records. Dominik Brus set a new mark in the 200 back, while Rafal Baran had a record swim in the 200 fly prelims. The Catawba men finished seventh at the Championships, while the women placed eighth.
Brus' record in 200 back of 1:48.99 gave him a fourth-place finish in the event and was the highest finish by a Catawba swimmer at the meet. Jevgenij Gamper won the B Final of the 200 breast in a time of 2:03.58 which was the fifth best time on record.
Catawba put two swimmers in the B Final of the men's 200 fly. Baran had set a new record of 1:52.78 in the prelim and came back with the fifth-best time in the final (1:53.53) to finish 14th. Michael King would have the third best all-time swim in the final and finished 12th with his time of 1:53.17.
Cassie Shear had the best finish for the women on Saturday as she went 13th in the 200 breast (2:26.45). Shear had a prelim time of 2:25.26 which was the 10th fastest in school history. Palmer Benson finished right behind Shear in the final with a time of 2:26.51, 17th best all-time.
Jess Daniel placed 19th in the 200 fly. Her time of 2:17.10 was the 16th fastest on record. Nadine Brockmann finished 22nd in the 100 free (53.87) which was also a 16th best all-time swim.
Queens won both the men's and women's championships with Wingate finishing second.
