Schechter, Stansberry lead Eagles to combined win over Cumberlands
WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. – The Carson-Newman swim team opened the 2015-16 regular season with a 356.5-158.5 combined victory over the University of the Cumberlands Patriots Saturday afternoon at the Dinah Taylor Aquatic Center.
WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. – The Carson-Newman swim team opened the 2015-16 regular season with a 356.5-158.5 combined victory over the University of the Cumberlands Patriots Saturday afternoon at the Dinah Taylor Aquatic Center.
The women's team was led by sophomores Margaret Stansberry (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Maggie Melhorn (Knoxville, Tenn.) who had four wins each, two individual and two relay, while junior All-American Sam Schechter (Knoxville, Tenn.) had four wins to lead the men.
"The team did well today," coach Paige McCord said. "Really tight races all around and it was a great opportunity to see where we as a team are at."
Stansberry, Melhorn, freshman Kerry Holding (Bacup, Lanchahire, United Kingdom) and freshman Lisa Postma (Leiden, Holland) won the 200 Medley Relay in 1:50.53 by three-tenths of a second over the Cumberlands's relay team.
Stansberry's individual wins came in the 200 Free with a time of 1:59.30 and finished three seconds ahead of second-place finisher, Postma and then won the 200 Back by three-tenths of a second over Dasha Korostin in the 200 Back. Melhorn picked up victories in the 100 Breast in 1:07.27 and the 200 Individual Medley in 2:11.69 and finished a second ahead of the Cumberlands's Christina Klouda.
Other individual winners for the women were: freshman Olivia Winkler (Marietta, Ga.) with a time of 59.59 in the 100 Back, Postma won the 50 Free in 24.76, junior Samantha Starnes (Knoxville, Tenn.) won the 100 Free in 54.77, Holding won her first individual event in the 100 Fly by swimming a time of 1:01.38 and junior Nancy Claire Smith (Franklin, Tenn.) picked up her first win of the year in 200 Breast (2:28.35).
The 400 Free Relay team of Postma, Starnes, Melhorn and Stansberry won the last event of the contest with a time of 3:36.75 and finished three seconds ahead of the Patriots' top relay team.
Freshman Seth Huges (Kingston, Tenn.), freshman Ryland Darling (Arlington, Tenn.), sophomore Ryan Burcham (Lenoir City, Tenn.) and Schechter won the men's first event of the afternoon in the 200 Medley Relay in 1:36.35 and finished two seconds ahead of the Eagles' second relay team.
Schechter picked up his first individual win of the afternoon in the 50 Free with a swim of 21.26 and followed that up with a time of 48.38 to win the 100 Free.
Freshman Jon Lancaster (Ringgold, Ga.) took the 200 Free in a 1:46.49 and finished a half-second quicker than junior Tommy Bourgeois (Kingsport, Tenn.) who finished second and followed that up with a victory in the 500 Free with a time of 4:45.47 and finished 12 seconds ahead of Bourgeois who picked up his second second-place finish of the afternoon.
Other individual winners for the men included: Hughes in the 100 Back with a time of 51.78, freshman Tyler Graves (Riverview, Fla.) in 1:01.46 in the 100 Breast, Burcham won the 100 Fly (51.56) and junior Josh Grover (Villa Rice, Ga.) won the 200 Individual Medley (2:00.68).
Lancaster, freshman Garrett Stelling (Eads, Tenn.), freshman Jonny Goss (Heiskell, Tenn.) and Schechter picked up a win the afternoon's final event, the 400 Free Relay, with a time of 3:12.14 to hold off the Eagles' relay team of Burcham, Bourgeois, sophomore Ben McCrary (Woodbury, Tenn.) and sophomore Andrew Wheeler (Newnan, Ga.) by four seconds.
Carson-Newman returns to the pool on Halloween night, Oct. 31st, as it travels to Gaffney, S.C. to face Bluegrass Mountain Conference foe Limestone at 6 p.m.
