Queens
The Queens University of Charlotte men’s and women’s swim teams secured a first place finish in all 12 of the nights events on Friday, February 12, 2016. The Royals would see day three of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship to a score of 1163 on the women’s side and a score of 1095.5 on the men’s side.
Wingate held at second place on both sides with a score 859.5 for the women and 792.5 for the men. Carson-Newman maintained third on the women’s side with a score of 718 while Limestone overtook the Eagles in tallying 677 points for the men.
“What a night,” said Head Coach Jeff Dugdale. “I could not be more proud of the fight our athletes showed tonight. We won every event, broke records, and was even involved in a three way tie for second place. Which I have never seen happen before.”
In addition to the sweep, Queens took two national records and a conference meet record to add to the list of an already successful competition.
Toppling her previous national record time, Patricia Castro-Ortega marked the night with a 4:09.93 for the 400 individual medley as she dropped nearly three seconds off her time. With a two second lead over the pool, Dion Dreesens grabbed the team’s second national record, reaching the wall with a 1:34.20 in the 200 yard freestyle.
In the preliminary swims, Brittney Phelan claimed the conference meet record and a school record taking a 1:01.99 for the 100 yard breaststroke. She placed first in the finals, with a time of 1:02.50 while Shelly Prayson gave the team the 1-2 finish with a time of 1:02.71 for second place.
It was an automatic qualifying time for Nicholas Arakelian in the 400 individual medley securing the race with a time of 3:48.25. Hector Tricas and Inigo Alarcia tied for second place, along with Oystein Fjeldberg of Wingate. The three athletes reached the wall in a time 3:56.16 to share the silver placement.
Hannah Peiffer claimed a time of 53.82 to meet the NCAA “A” standard cut in the 100 yard butterfly, out touching Armony Dumur of Wingate for the first place spot by one-hundredth of a second. Peiffer added another first place swim and automatic qualifying time to her night, seeing her way to the wall for first in the 100 yard backstroke to clock a 54.25.
Enzo Pazos met his NCAA “B” standard time in the 100 yard butterfly. Pazos touched with a 49.01. He swam a 48.91 in the preliminary races that morning.
It was another close win for the Royals in the 200 yard freestyle as McKenzie Stevens out powered Margaret Stansberry of Carson-Newman to the wall for a one-hundredth of a second victory. Stevens's swim clocked a 1:49.09 as she met the “B” qualifying time. The Royals added four more athletes to the podium in the race as Josefina Lord-Taylor placed third for a time of 1:49.58. Linda Baron took fourth while Kyrie Dobson took fifth in the race as the two went 1:51.27 and 1:52.13, respectively. Hannah Craig rounded out the event, reaching the wall for sixth place and a time of 1:52.15.
Rostyslav Fedyna and Ben Mayes went 1-2 in the men’s 100 yard breaststroke. Fedyna reached with the top time of 53.96 as Mayes found a 54.19.
Phelps concluded the individual events night for the team with a qualifying time of 47.66 in the 100 yard backstroke.
For the relays, the team of Dobson, Arakelian, Prayson, and Shane Knight, respectively, fell just shy of the meet record in the 200 yard freestyle relay putting together a spectacular swim for a time of 1:32.35 and finding a qualifying mark for nationals.
With a mirrored result, the men’s 200 yard freestyle relay of Dreesens, Ben Taylor, Phelps, and Mayes, respectively, reached the wall with a time of 1:20.88 to top the pool.
Caroline Arakelian would also add a third place finish behind Castro-Ortega in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:24.07.
The conclusion of the conference meet will be held tomorrow with finals taking place at 5 p.m.
Catawba
Catawba swam to another school record on Friday at the 2016 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships being held at the Rock Hill YMCA. Senior Jevgenij Gamper posted a new mark in the 100 breast as one of two A Final swims for the men. The Catawba women are seventh and the men eighth heading into Saturday's final day of competition.
Gamper had narrowly missed the record in the prelim, finishing at 55.52, just one-one hundredth off the record of Patrik Drakes. In the final, Gamper shaved nearly two-tenths off the record by finishing in a time of 55.34 and placing fifth.
Also earning a fifth-place finish was Dominik Brus in the 100 back. His time of 50.13 was the 13th fastest in school history. Arnold Blohme swam the C Final of the 100 back and placed 18th (55.07).
Aly Hegazi posted a tenth-place finish in the 200 free as he clocked in at 1:40.69 to record the seventh fastest time in school history. Michael King was 21st (1:43.92). Rafal Baran rounded out the men's finals swims on Friday with a 14th in the 400 IM (4:06.72). He was four-hundredths faster in the prelim to post the 12th fastest on record.
Palmer Benson had the highest finish on Friday for the women as she claimed 11th in the 100 breast (1:07.06). Benson swam the eighth fastest time in school history with a 1:06.87 in the prelim. Cassie Shear finished 18th (1:08.36).
Two women posted top ten all-time swims. Marcia-Mariel Erhart had the fifth fastest time in a 400 IM (4:37.71) in placing 13th and Nadine Brockmann swam the seventh best 200 free time, finishing 13th in a time of 1:55.12. Amy Cujas picked up a 19th-place finish in the 100 back (1:00.41).
In relay action, the women's team of Cujas, Shear, Jess Daniel and Erhart finished ninth in the 200 free relay. The time of 1:40.63 was sixth best all-time, while Cujas led off with a 50 free time of 24.42 which was third best all-time. The men placed eighth in the 200 free relay (1:26.52) behind the team of Gamper, Brus, Blohme and Hegazi.
Wingate
The Wingate University men's and women's swimming teams are second after the third day of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship meet at the Rock Hill Aquatics Center (Friday's PM results; Friday PM time trials). Twelve women's teams and 11 men's squads are participating in the 18th annual BMC meet.
The NCAA Division II number five Wingate women have 859.5 points; number one Queens has 1163 points. Carson-Newman is third with 718 points. On the men's side, number 13 Wingate has 792.5 points; number one Queens has 1095.5 points. Limestone is third on the men's listing with 677 points.
Wingate women's recap
Wingate junior Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) and senior Armony Dumur (Amiens, France) earned silver medals in the 400 Individual Medley and the 100 Butterfly, respectively. Petrenko posted a time of 4:17.60 in the first individual race of the evening.
The defending NCAA Division II 100 Butterfly national champion, Dumur lost by one/one-hundredth of a second to Queens junior Hannah Peiffer (Hixson, Tenn.). Dumur recorded a time of 53.83, while Peiffer's triumphant time was 53.82. In 2015, Peiffer (53.64) and Dumur (53.82) were second and third, respectively, in the BMC 100 Fly competition.
The Bulldogs had three All-BMC swims in the 100 Butterfly. Junior Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) was fifth with a time of 55.92, while classmate Caitlin Coughlin (Cochranville, Pa.) tied for sixth place at 56.18.
Arkhipova matched Petrenko and Dumur with a second-place finish in the 100 Backstroke. Arkhipova posted a time of 55.24 to lead a 2-5-6-7 Bulldog showing. Senior Rita Koryukova (Omsk, Russia) was fifth with a time of 57.29. Sophomores Miranda Seegars (Monroe, N.C.) and Mariona Espinalt (Barcelona, Spain) were sixth (57.42) and seventh (57.83), respectively, in the 100 Backstroke. Seegars earns her first All-BMC distinction with the sixth-place finish.
Wingate junior Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) and redshirt junior Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia) were third (1:02.87) and fourth (1:03.40), respectively, in the 100 Breaststroke. In 2015, Kosheleva and Weiss placed 1-2 in the 100 Breaststroke event.
Freshman Maria Madsen (Dragoer, Denmark) was seventh in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:52.68. Classmate Hanna Van Horen (Hofstade, Belgium) won the 200 Freestyle "B" final with her time of 1:52.94.
The Bulldogs started the day with a second-place performance in the 200 Freestyle Relay, posting a time of 1:33.48. Coughlin swam the third leg, surrounded by seniors Dumur, Koryukova and Fish.
Wingate men's recap
Wingate sophomore Jerome Heidrich (Hamburg, Germany) led a 2-3-5 Bulldog finish in the 200 Freestyle. The defending BMC champion, Heidrich swam a personal-best time of 1:36.94 for his silver medal. WU redshirt freshman Lennart Queiss (Langen, Germany) and junior Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany) were third (1:37.00) and fifth (1:38.00), respectively. Queens sophomore Dion Dreesens (Venray, The Netherlands) won the 200 Freestyle with his time of 1:34.20.
Three Bulldogs made the 400 Individual Medley final. Bulldog junior Øystein Fjeldberg (Oslo, Norway) tied with two other swimmers for second place with his time of 3:56.16. His posted was five seconds better than his sixth-place time of 4:01.25 at last year's BMC event.
Wingate senior Ossian Arvidsson (Kungälv, Sweden) earned All-BMC distinction in the 400 IM for the third time in his career, placing fifth with his time of 3:56.44. Bulldog freshman Camden Wunderlich (Snohomish, Wash.) was seventh in the 400 IM with his time of 4:00.17.
Bulldog freshman Niklas Martin (Kempton, Germany) earned third place in the 100 Butterfly with his time of 49.25. Seniors Roman Kanyuka (Moscow, Russia) and Damjan Petrovski (Skopje, Macedonia) were sixth (55.50) and eighth (56.15), respectively, in the 100 Breaststroke. WU sophomore Robin Siegel (Friedberg, Germany) won the 100 Breaststroke "B" final with his time of 55.66.
Wingate began day three with a bronze medal showing in the 200 Freestyle Relay, recording a time of 1:22.15. Bulldog sophomore Stephen Tresslar (Wake Forest, N.C.) swam the third leg to earn his first All-BMC award. He was joined by Cuadros, Klüver and Heidrich.
The fourth and final day of the 18th annual BMC Championships is Saturday. Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m., with the finals slated for a 5 p.m. start.
