Eagles head back to Mossy Creek after making a statement on the big stage
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The women’s relay continues to be a strong suit for Carson-Newman as the 400 Free Relay team made it to the finals as well as one of the men’s individuals on the final day of the swim National Championships.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The women's relay continues to be a strong suit for Carson-Newman as the 400 Free Relay team made it to the finals as well as one of the men's individuals on the final day of the swim National Championships.
"Awesome week of performances from all the swimmers on the biggest stage," Coach Jordan Taylor said. "it was an up and down rollercoaster of a week but as a program we continued to break school records and race hard. Where we didn't succeed, we learned and gained experience and we will be back again ready for battle in a years' time."
After a steady three days of tough competition, the Eagles went out with a bang adding two more Honorable Mentions to the list. In the men's 200 Breast prelim, Caleb Howell was heartbreakingly one place off of making the 'A' final as he came in 9thplace. However, he broke the school record with his time of 1:58.78. He also still earned Honorable Mention All-American this evening as he won the 'B' final coming in 9thplace overall in the event and broke the record yet again, this time his own, with his improved time of 1:58.65.
"I'm excited that throughout this entire process, this entire long season we ended on a positive note," Howell said. "I'm excited because those are two of my favorite events so that fact that I was able to beat my best time on both of those which also happened to be a school record is something that I'm extremely proud of. There are a lot more goals that I want to work on for next season, so I'll just have to work harder than I did this past year."
The relay prelims took the women into the 'B' final of the 400 Free Relay. Lisa Postma, Mary Northcutt, Meredith Ginn and Elly Culp came in 15thplace with a time of 3:26.97. The team of four ended up coming in 15thplace with an improved time from the morning of 3:25.73. With hugs and tears, seniors Postma and Culp jumped out of the pool for the last time of their collegiate careers.
Two of the men on the 400 Free Relay team swam their last race as Eagles as well. Seth Hughes and Jon Lancaster were the upperclassmen on the squad while Nikola Tadic, and Chad Andoljsek rounded out the relay team. The four were just short and came in 18thplace with a time of 3:00.71. For the women's individuals, Lisa Postma and Elly Culp competed in the women's 100 Free prelims in the morning but finished lower than the mark needed to advance to finals. Postma finished in 33rdplace with a time of 51.36 while Culp finished just behind her at 35thplace at 51.47.
The final swim of the prelims was senior Marcelo Figueiredo in the mile (1650 Free) closing out the final race of his career. As of the end of this morning he was in 16thplace with a time of 15:54.17. After the final heat of the event in the evening, he was pushed down to the 23rdspot.
"I'm proud of everyone who raced this week," Taylor said. "But a big shout out to our six seniors who represented Carson-Newman with pride and continue to set the standard for this team."
The Eagles broke a total of seven school records in the past four days at the National Championships, and a list of All-Americans and Honorable Mentions are below.
All-Americans:
|
200 Free Relay |
|
|
Seth Hughes |
100 Back |
Honorable Mentions:
|
Marcelo Figueiredo |
1000 Free |
|
Caleb Howell |
200 IM 400 IM 200 Breast |
|
Matt George |
500 Free |
|
Chad Andoljsek Seth Hughes Nikola Tadic Jonny Goss |
200 Free Relay |
|
Nikola Tadic Marcelo Figueiredo Jon Lancaster Matthew George |
800 Free Relay |
|
50 Free |
|
|
800 Free Relay |
|
|
400 IM 200 Fly |
- CN -
