Day two prelims set up C-N for exciting evening
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Carson-Newman has its sights on additional All-American swims when Thursday night rolls around in the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Carson-Newman has its sights on additional All-American swims when Thursday night rolls around in the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships.
After a stellar opening day for C-N swim, the first prelim swim of day two marked a new school record for C-N in the 200 freestyle relay as the Eagles turned in a time of 1:32.98, tying for third-place in their respective heat.
The time tied C-N for fifth-overall with UC San Diego out of the 25 relay teams who competed in the event. Lisa Postma, Elly Culp, Mary Northcutt and Margaret Stansberry will find themselves competing in the 'A' final later on tonight.
The Eagles topped the foursome from Wingate who finished the prelim event ninth overall at 1:33.19. Earlier this season at the BMC Championships, C-N finished behind the Bulldogs group in the same event.
Stansberry claimed the top spot in her heat in the 200 yard freestyle touching the wall at 1:47.10 to clear a school record by 1.2 seconds. The Knoxville, Tenn. native topped all 50 swimmers who race in the event, and will have a shot at a national title tonight if she can keep her pace. The next closest swimmer came in from Lindenwood over a full second later at 1:48.37.
CJ Jensen collected a school record in the 400 yard individually medley turning in a time of 4:26.65 which put the freshman third in her heat. The native of Copenhagen, Denmark shaved off over two seconds from her previous best in the event which stood at 4:28.76 entering the day.
The finish sat just outside the top-eight tied for 10th as Jensen will compete in the consolation final later on this evening.
Fellow juniors Jon Lancaster (1:39.12) and Marcelo Figueiredo (1:39.11) both posted season-low times in the 200 freestyle for the Eagles.
Caleb Howell competed for C-N in the 400 individual medley turning in a time of 4:01.53 for a 26th-place finish.
Stansberry, Maggie Melhorn, Culp and Postma timed a 3:45.04 in the 400 medley relay which held a school record time for the group. Despite the accolade, the time fell outside of the top-eight needed for an 'A' final, and sat at No. 9 out of 30 teams. The group will still compete in the consolation final this evening.
The day two finals are slated to take place from the Greensboro Aquatic Center at 6:00 p.m. Live results and video for the events can be found here.
C-N's women's team currently sits seventh in the team rankings with 44 points.
"Another fantastic session of swimming," Coach Jordan Taylor stated. "They kept the momentum rolling from last night. Three school records this morning and multiple finals. They keep executing in the areas we have been working on and I couldn't ask for anymore."
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