February 13, 2022

Eagles finish third at 2022 BMC Championships

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After four days of highly-competitive competition full of various top-five program times and a few new program records

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After four days of highly-competitive competition full of various top-five program times and a few new program records, Carson-Newman swimming has concluded their time from the 2022 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships.

After the four-day event concluded, Carson-Newman once more saw a pair of top-three finishes as the Eagles finished in third place overall on both sides. The men's team scored 1121 points while the women posted an astounding 1152.2 points. Queens and Wingate finished first and second, respectively.

Over the four days of events, the Eagles were able to set numerous top event times in program history, including three new program records in the women's and men's 100-yard breaststroke and the men's 200-yard medley relay.

"Overall a very good weekend filled with lots of lifetime and season bests," head coach Jordan Taylor said. "A few have really improved their chances of getting invited to NCAA national championships as well as many changes have been made to C-N's top 5."

A night after breaking a program record in the women's 100-yard breaststroke, junior Kailee Morgan (Greeneville, S.C.) took to the pools of the KCAC for the women's 200-yard breaststroke Sunday. The Greeneville native swam the top prelims time of 2:16.07, which placed her in the event's 'A' finals.

Her time secured a spot in the 'A' finals as well as placing Morgan with the fourth-fastest event time for CNSW as she looked to break another program record Sunday night. Well, although she could not break the program record set by Maggie Melhorn (2:13.09), Morgan still would swim a finals time of 2:13.75. This time secured another Division II provisional time for the Greeneville time as well as gave her the overall event victory and the second fastest event time for an Eagle.

The Eagles were able to end Sunday morning on a truly high note as the quartet of Nikita Puzevich (Belarus), Asger Hartvig (Hoersholm, Denmark), Nicolas Lenuza (Spain), and Hobson Stelling (Memphis, Tenn.) broke the program record in the men's 200-yard medley relay. Their time 1:27.96 also qualified the quartet for the upcoming Division II Nationals in the event, as they broke the 2020 record of 1:27.97 set by A. Ungur, Raphael Lima, Ivo Kunzle, and Chad Andoljsek.

"Great performances all around, people were getting lifetime-bests and school records were broken today. We got a lot of people into finals and they were going faster at night which is what we want to see," Taylor said.

C-N would see their highest number of 'A' finals qualifiers in the men's 200-yard breaststroke Sunday morning. First, continuing his phenomenal efforts in the 2022 Championships, Henrique Pacheco was the event's top finisher with a time of 2:00.30. This moves Pacheco into a tie for the fourth-fastest event time with teammate Joey Clemmer (Murfreesboro, Tenn.). His prelims time also secures Pacheco his fifth top-five time over three different events this BMC Championships.

Clemmer would follow soon behind Pacheco as he came in third with a prelims time of 2:00.85 to garner the second Division II provisional event time for C-N alongside the freshman. Finally, sophomore Thanos Diamanditis (Athens, Greece) rounded out the top-eight finishes for C-N with a time of 2:02.77 and a seventh-place prelims time.

When it came time for the event's finals, it would be the older Clemmer taking the highest event final as he swam to a sixth-place finish and a time of 2:00.68. Then, it was Pacheco taking seventh with a time of 2:00.76 as both he and Clemmer claimed Division II provisional times. Finally, Thanos Diamanditis came in eighth with his time of 2:00.99.

Morgan was joined in the 200-yard breaststroke 'A' finals by teammate Breanna Belcher (Cleveland, Tenn.). Belcher, making her BMC Championships debut, swam a time of 2:23.75 to gain a spot in the event's 'A' finals. Belcher finished the event finals with a seventh-place finish and a time of 2:26.01.

As the final day started off, freshman Maria Tirulli was in action for the women's 1650-yard freestyle. As she took part in her first BMC Championships, Tirulli finished third Sunday morning with a time of 18:01.98.

However, it was junior Rachel Peden (Boiling Springs, S.C.) who shined bright in the event finals as she finished fifth overall with a time of 17:27.10. Peden would be joined in the top-10 by Linda Ungerboeck (Vienna, Austria) who finished seventh in a time of 17:45.03 and Makayla Young (Lexington, Ky.) who gathered eighth place with a finals time of 17:45.58.

Then, in the men's 1650-yard freestyle, it was Alonso Castro Hablutzel submitting another top time in his BMC Championships debut. Sunday morning saw the freshman submit a prelims time of 15:57.49, a Division II provisional time. The time also secures Castro Hablutzel with the third fastest event time for an Eagle and eighth place overall.

Junior Jed Little wasted no time in submitting another top-five event time for CNSW. After automatically qualifying for the event finals, Little went out and swam a time of 15:53.26, good for sixth place overall and the second-fastest event time for an Eagle.

"It was really one of our focuses this week to get as many athletes to NCAAs as possible," Taylor said. "We qualified various athletes with provisional times as we await to see who else can join these automatic qualifiers after the results of Conference. All the positions we were in this week gave us that opportunity and took some pressure off us heading into next."

In the men's 100-yard freestyle, freshman Hobson Stelling (Memphis, Tenn.) would secure another top-eight prelims finish in his BMC Championships debut. Sunday saw the Memphis native come in with a prelims time of 43.89, the fourth fastest amongst all competition, as he would qualify for the event's 'A' final.

In Sunday's final, Stelling would gather a fifth-place finish with a time of 44.32, which is a Division II provisional time as well to qualify for the 2022 NCAA Nationals. Then, it was fellow freshman, Logan Ridge McCay, who finished in the event's top-10 as he swam a finals time of 45.29 to finish tenth.

Yet another top-five program time would be secured, this time in the women's 200-yard backstroke. The top-five submitter this go round was sophomore Kyla Blakemore (Durban, South Africa) who turned in a time of 2:02.89, the fifth fastest event time in program history for the time being. However, the sophomore would best her prelims time and swim to a fourth-place finish in a time of 2:01.84.

Her finals time secured a top-five overall finish and was only mere milliseconds from breaking fellow Eagle, CJ Jensen's, program record of 2:01.71 set in 2021. Jensen would also compete in Sunday's event 'A' finals as she finishes sixth overall with a time of 2:04.43.

The men's 200-yard backstroke saw another sensational effort from senior Matthew George (Manchester, England) who qualified for the event's 'A' finals. In his finals BMC Championships, George swam a prelims time of 1:50.41 and would swim amongst competition from Queens (N.C.), Lenoir-Rhyne, and Wingate Sunday night.

George in Sunday's final would still finish top-eight as he came in top-five with a time of 1:48.06, a Division II provisional time. Joining the England native in the top-10 was sophomore Benaiah McDowell who came in ninth with a finals time of 1:51.10.

"There are still some things we could fix up before nationals. This should give our team a lot of confidence going toward nationals in a few weeks' time," Taylor said.

C-N and the rest of the nation will turn towards their Last Chance meet in the coming weeks in hopes to improve on their nations times in a final push for a trip to nationals.

Be sure to keep up with the Carson-Newman swim team on C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.

-CN-