Eagles unfazed by competition, break slew of records on day one of UT Invitational
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Coach Jordan Taylor and the Carson-Newman swim program opened up day one of the three-day University of Tennessee Invitational with seven swimmers earning races in the finals as C-N continued its habit of breaking records in the Jones Aquatic Center.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Coach Jordan Taylor and the Carson-Newman swim program opened up day one of the three-day University of Tennessee Invitational with seven swimmers earning races in the finals as C-N continued its habit of breaking records in the Jones Aquatic Center.
C-N is the only Division II school in the meet as the Eagles are going toe-to-toe with the likes of ranked opponents in Duke, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Other Division I schools in attendance included Denver, Marshall, and Penn.
"Not much to complain about everything was great across the board," Coach Taylor said. "They all stepped up and did great things for our team and they were given opportunities today and they did well seizing them. Individually you're seeing people step up on the big stage and even with our relays having more people involved it shows the character in those people. Their placements were deserved and they made the most of it."
The 500 freestyle record got broken four-times throughout the day, following the preliminary swims and the final swims in which Marcelo Figueiredo and Matt George each beating it twice. George ultimately held the upper hand and sits with the current school record with a time of 4:26.51. The mark for the Winchester, England native as of today is No. 2 in the country.
Figueiredo came in at 4:27.71 which sits at fourth in all of D2 after collecting the previous program record this morning in the event with a time of 4.29.18. George's finish was good enough for 11th place ahead of the senior at 12.
The women's 200 freestyle relay of Lisa Postma, Mary Northcutt, Meredith Ginn, and Elly Culp collected a ninth-place finish and earned a new season-best time in the event at 1:33.79, just 1.3 seconds off the program record. Culp and Postma are both members of the current record which came during the 2016 season. The current time in the event puts the Eagle foursome at No. 4 in all of D2.
The men's 200 freestyle relay group of Jonny Goss, Andrei Ungur, Seth Hughes, and Chad Andoljsek also post a ninth-place finish with a new season-best time of 1:21.57, a two-second decrease. Entering the day, the swim is good for sixth in the nation.
Caleb Howell took home the 13th spot in the 200-yard individual medley earning a new season-low time of 1:48.32 and sits atop the record book in the event with a program low time. At current standing, the Easley, S.C. product is No. 4 in the nation out of all D2 swimmers.
In another program record-breaking performance, the men's 400 medley relay of Ungur, Howell, George and Chad Andoljsek in a time of 3:18.60.
Lisa Postma was awarded 12th-place honors in the 50 freestyle finishing the race at 23.26 which was .05 seconds off her season-best time.
Andoljsek earned a new season-low time in the same event at 20.43 seconds for the 19th-place spot.
"With it being local having family and friends and not having to travel it makes a huge impact for us," Coach Taylor said. "To have all that support is fantastic. We are familiar and comfortable in this environment especially coming off last year which was big for us. We knew what it takes and the expectation was here today. I'm excited moving forward into the weekend and hope we can keep this going."
The second day of the invitational is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow for the preliminary events followed by the finals at 6:00 p.m. You can view the event schedule here.
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