Taylor's troops open NCAA Championships in style
GREENSBORO, N.C. – It was the best first day of competition for Carson-Newman swim in the NCAA Championships in the program’s history, or so says head coach Jordan Taylor. The Eagles grinded out multiple All-America finishes with an honorable mention nod added to the cards.
Video: Jordan Taylor Interview
Video: Medley Relay Team Interview
GREENSBORO, N.C. – It was the best first day of competition for Carson-Newman swim in the NCAA Championships in the program's history, or so says head coach Jordan Taylor. The Eagles grinded out multiple All-America finishes with an honorable mention nod added to the cards.
"Today was awesome," Taylor exclaimed. "As a swim program in the past, we've had a couple of bad opening days. You're weary with things as you head into the championships but I thought today was probably the best first day we've ever had."
Lisa Postma tabbed her first All-America honor in the 50 yard freestyle after turning in a fifth-place finish on Wednesday night with a time of 23.07, a new lifetime-best after already topping a career-low time in the morning's prelim swim. The time also puts the junior with the second fastest time in Carson-Newman history.
The Leiden, Holland native had earned All-American and honorable mention All-America prior to the 2018 season in relay events, but had never collected one individually until tonight.
Congratulations to @_LisaPostma who grabs an All-America honor after a 5th-place finish in the 50 Freestyle Final! The time of 23.07 seconds is a new lifetime best and the second-lowest time in @cnswim history. pic.twitter.com/FaZsP1hRF2
— C-N Athletics (@CNathletics) March 15, 2018
"It was great to get out there with the girls and get off to a good start," Postma stated. "It was really amazing to have my parents here as well who just saw me swim for the first time and this already made the week. They were super glad to be here, I hadn't seen them since the end of July so its been awesome to have them here."
The medley relay team of Margaret Stansberry (Backstroke), Maggie Melhorn (Breaststroke), Elly Culp (Butterfly) & Postma (Freestyle) posted a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay to earn All-American status.
The finish marks the highest finish for C-N swim relay teams at the NCAA's on both the men's and women's sides in school history.
The time of 1:41.62 also pens a new program record as the foursome shaved off a full 1.6 seconds from the previous C-N record heading into the day. The same four had broken the record by .6 seconds in the morning prelim swim, before topping it once again by a full second.
Two school records in one day ✅
— C-N Athletics (@CNathletics) March 15, 2018
Highest finish ever for a relay team at NCAA's in @cnswim history ✅
Margaret Stansberry, @_LisaPostma, @Cinderellyy_ & Maggie Melhorn represent the Eagles in the 200 Medley Relay in Greensboro. pic.twitter.com/bdlsCtz5a5
"Super pumped about today," Culp said. "We're ready for the rest of the week and we're going to go for every relay now. The secret for me was taking a really good nap but our team spirit in general gets us hype."
Caleb Howell turned in a 15th-place finish in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:50.25. The finish was enough to give the Easley, N.C. native an All-American honor in the event, the first of his career.
Day two will continue for C-N tomorrow with prelim swims slated for a 10:00 a.m. start followed by the consolation and championship finals at 6:00 p.m. The live stream and event results are available here.
"We were really competitive and fired up tonight," Taylor added. "This is what the whole year has been about is getting to this point and executing on the national stage but it's not over. We have three more days. A lot more to come from this team."
-CN-
