The St. Andrews University men's swim team defeated NCAA Div. II Mars Hill University (N.C.) 128.5-123.5 on Saturday at home for their second win of the season while the women's team fell 111-99 to Mars Hill as well. The loss was Mars Hill’s first of the year.
The men's meet came right down to the wire as the last event of the day, the 200 yard freestyle relay, determined who won,. The SAU men were able to outreach the Mars Hill Lions by just 0.47 to win the 11 points with a time of 1:28.32. The Knights relay team consisted of juniors Nick Souza (JR/Williamsburg, VA), Josh Dixon (JR/Durban, S. Africa), Cameron Dixon (JR/Gerrardstown, WV), and Elliot Boon (JR/Glastonbury, England).
2015 National runner-up, junior Georgi Krastev, though, led the Knights this weekend scoring 38 team points by winning all four races that he entered. Krastev was part of the winning 200 yard medley relay team as he swam the first leg in 24.7 seconds while the team won in 1:38.9. He also won three individual races as well. He took first in his specialty the 100 yard backstroke in 53.6 seconds while also winning the 200 back in 1:56.87over his teammate Souza by less than a second. He then won the 200 IM as well in 2:02.3 edging out his teammate, freshman Sebastian Riano by .04.
Riano then qualified for nationals by winning the 200 Breaststroke in a NAIA qualify time of 2:13.47. Riano also won the 100 Breast in 1:00.8 seconds
Other good performances included a win by junior Drew Gurley in the 100 butterfly in 54.27 seconds and a runner-up finish in the 50 free in 22.67 while Boon was the runner-up in the 100 freestyle in 49.64. as he came in 2nd in the 50 free in 21.8 while also falling to teammate Krastev in the 100 fly in 54.6. Souza also won the 200 freestyle in 1:48.4 winning by three seconds over teammate Cameron Dixon.
For the women, senior Triniti Counter had a very solid meet for the Knights against Mars Hikll. Counter won the 100 butterfly in 1:00.97 as well as the 200 Fly in 2:14.58 while finishing runner-up in the 200 IM by .14. Tarryn Holmes won the women’s 50 free in 25.9 while Xiomara Getrouw won the 100 Backstroke in 1:02. 78
The women also beat Mars Hill in the 200 freestyle relay as well by 14 seconds as Aliah Maginley, Getoruw, Holmes, and Choolwe Lourens won in 1:46.17.
The Knight men improve to 2-1 on the year while the women fall to 1-4. The Mars Hill men suffer their first loss dropping to 6-1 while their women improve to 2-1.
St. Andrews will next travel to another Div. II foe in Limestone College in Gaffney, SC next Saturday at 1 p.m.
