Eagles boast new bests, await their fate for nationals
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The final day of the Last Chance meet came to a close for Carson-Newman on Sunday evening.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The final day of the Last Chance meet came to a close for Carson-Newman on Sunday evening.
The two-day meet at the University of Tennessee allowed swimmers to make a final push on increasing their marks in various events for a ticket to nationals.
The C-N men's 200 medley relay team of Caleb Howell, Andrei Roman, Ivo Kunzle and Chad Andoljsek all swam season best times at 1:29.72, nearly breaking a school record, but just fell shy of the needed national qualification time by .3 seconds.
The team posted a time of 1:30.31 in prelims which was already better than their time at the Bluegrass Mountain Championships, before the near qualification in finals.
CJ Jensen competed in the 400 individual medley and was on pace for a school record until her last 100, recording a time of 4:31.56. Jensen also time trailed for the 200 butterfly again, but fell short of her time from yesterday of 2:04.01 is still 21st in the country.
Elly Culp and Laurel Sankowski both competed in the 100 butterfly but fell short of the needed qualification times for nationals.
Mary Northcutt, Culp and Sankowski all posted 23.8 second times in the 50 meter freestyle, equaling season bests for the trio.
Kunzle posted a lifetime best swim in the 100 butterfly with a time of 45.59, however, Asucion, Paraguay native fell just short of heading to nationals in his freshman season.
Howell time trialed in the 100 butterfly and posted a lifetime best swim at 50.84 seconds, shaving off four seconds from his previous high.
Jon Lancaster posted a lifetime best swim in the time trial for the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:32.20, which qualified the junior for a national 'b' final.
Marcelo Figueiredo posted a time of 4:32.19 in the same event.
In the men's 400 freestyle relay, Nikola Tadic, Andoljsek, Lancaster and Figueiredo swam a season best time and the second-fastest time in school history at 3:00.33. The time barely missed national qualification by .5 seconds.
"Overall it was a great meet and the swimmers did great with a great attitude," Coach Jordan Taylor stated. "I couldn't have asked more. Now we just have to pray that when they announce the national invitations, we are ranked high enough!"
All athletes will await the weekend's results as the top-26 times throughout the season in each individual event garner a place at nationals for women's athletes,. On the men's side, the top-21 times provide the trip to one of the biggest stages in swimming.
With relay teams, at least one swimmer has to qualify for an individual event for the group to earn a spot at nationals.
"We just have to carry this momentum into nationals and have the same ride or die mentality," Taylor exclaimed.
C-N will find out their fate on Tuesday evening.
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