October 15, 2016

Eagles cruise to big win over Limestone in first dual meet

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – The Carson-Newman swim team hosted their first dual meet of the season on Saturday against the Limestone Saints and they emerged victorious by a combined score of 386-134.

"It's awesome," Swim Coach Jordan Taylor said. "The team's been putting in the hard work since August. We've always had this dual meet on our radar. We knew it was going to be a big challenge for us. Limestone is a really competitive team. We'd never beaten them before and we brought them in here for our first dual meet on purpose. I couldn't be more proud of the team."

The day began with the Eagles' men's and women's teams each winning their first events of the day, the 200 Medley Relay. After Limestone's Helina Simsek won the third event, C-N took the next five. After another Limestone victory in event 10, the Eagles took the day's final 18 competitions, allowing them to cruise to an easy win.

"The way [the team] went about it was awesome," Taylor said. "I was a little nervous about that guys relay. Our guys knew what kind of a challenge it was. Those first two wins really kick-started the meet in a positive manner. That set the tone for the rest of the afternoon."

On a banner day for coach Taylor's student-athletes, there were a number of standouts. Elly Culp (West End, N.C.) won the 50 free and the 100 fly and was a member of a pair of relay teams that took first place. Margaret Stansberry (Knoxville, Tenn.) joined Culp on one of those relay teams and also took first place in the 100 free and 200 free. In the 200 back and the 200 Individual Medley, Olivia Winkler (Marietta, Ga.) topped the list of competitors, her first two wins of the fall.

C-N also got wins from Ksenia Naydenova (Stary Oskol, Russia) in the 100 back with a time of 1:00.85, Maggie Melhorn (Knoxville, Tenn.) in the 100 breast, who clocked in at 1:06.46, Lexy Raybon (Sarasota, Fla.) in the 200 fly, who posted a time of 2:09.99, Nancy Claire Smith (Franklin, Tenn.) and her time of 2:30.76 in the 200 breast, as well as Leah Allen (Aranda, Australia), who put up a time of 5:12.87 in the 500 free.

The women capped their day with by claiming the top spot in the 400 free relay, as Lisa Postma (Leiden, Holland) teamed with Culp, Raybon and Stansberry for a mark of 3:37.36, more than two seconds better nine seconds better than Limestone's top time.

The men's team was no less impressive. Jon Lancaster (Ringgold, Ga) bagged a pair of W's, winning the 200 free by less than a second over teammate Marcelo Figueiredo (Porto Alegre, Brazil) and following that up by taking the 200 back. Josh Winn (Round Rock, Texas) came out on top in the first men's individual event of the day, the 1000 free and later also found the wall first in the 200 breast and Pijus MacKevicius (Kaunas, Lithuania) won the 200 fly and the 100 fly.

Seth Hughes (Kingston, Tenn.) earned a win in the 100 back with a time of 50.59. Sam Schechter (Knoxville, Tenn.) swam the best time in the 50 free at 21.28. Jonny Goss's (Heiskell, Tenn.) 46.95 won him the 100 free. Figueiredo claimed a win in 500 free, clocking in at 4:52.41 and Caleb Howell (Easley, N.C.) came in first in the 200 individual medley.

The C-N men ended the day in fitting fashion in the 400 free relay, as they took the top two spots, with MacKevicius, Lancaster, Goss and Schetcher formed the winning quartet.

The Eagles will host another dual meet on Oct. 28^th, when the University of the Cumberland's visits for a contest that will begin at 6pm. A rundown of the meet will posted on cneagles.com afterward.

-CN-