Morgan leads Eagles to successful night three of Nationals
After a successful morning session, senior CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) and sophomore Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.) returned to action Friday night to compete in respective individual event finals
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After a successful morning session, senior CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) and sophomore Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.) returned to action Friday night to compete in respective individual event finals. Jensen was a competitor in the women's 200-yard freestyle 'A' final while Morgan competed in the women's 100-yard breaststroke 'A' final.
Morgan finished the national runner-up in the women's 100-yard breaststroke as she submitted the second-fastest event time for any Eagle in the event with a time of 1:01.44. With her time, Morgan not only improved her time from this morning (1:02.25) but secures the highest finish for any Eagle on the National stage (individual or relay).
"Another great night of swimming with Kailee Morgan getting highest finish in program history and barely missing out on school record and DII National Championship. I'm impressed with her composure as she is only a sophomore," head coach Jordan Taylor said.
Friday night was another rung to Jensen's success ladder at 2021 Nationals. In the women's 200-yard butterfly final, she improved upon her prelim time and broke her own school record in the event with a time of 2:00.56 Friday night. Jensen now has collected five separate All-American honors during her time at Nationals and she is (in the women's 200-yd butterfly) the record holder while being second, fourth, and fifth fastest in C-N history. Jensen now has pushed Lexy Raybon's 2015 record of 2:02.06 to third fastest in program history.
"CJ just went out and competed with a very calm composure and was able to drop another school record and place herself fourth in the country," Taylor said.
The other event which saw C-N as a member of was the women's 800-yard freestyle relay. The quartet of Jensen, sophomore Rachel Peden (Boiling Springs, S.C.), junior Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.), and sophomore Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands) came in at 7:28.64 which gives them the honor of All-American and an overall sixth-place event finish. This is now the third All-American honor for C-N women's relays in three attempts (200-yd medley, 400-yd medley, and 800-yd freestyle).
"It was really great to have these girls win an All-American in an event we've not had consistent success in. I think what makes this year so different is how none of the girls truly specialize in this length of relay," Taylor said. "Rachel does distance, Manon does sprint/free/fly, while Meredith and CJ do the IM so none of them really do or practice the 200 freestyle. For them to come together and set the second time in school history shows a lot about these girls."
Carson-Newman women are currently sitting at ninth overall heading into the final day of action as action picks back up Saturday morning in Birmingham, Ala. for the 2021 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships.
"Everyone is coming together and having fun. We expect to have a lot of fast races tomorrow and it has just been a fun and good experience overall for our team and program," Taylor said.
Live video is shown at ncaa.com. Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman swimming via cneagles.com and all social media accounts.
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