October 6, 2023

Eagles sting Wasps in season opener

EMORY, Va.- Carson-Newman swim bested the Emory & Henry Wasps 387-134 in the Eagles' first meet of the season.

The Eagles' trip to Emory, Va. resulted in a 387-134 win over the Wasps. Carson-Newman women's swim contributed 198 points to the team score, while the men put up 189 points on the night.

"It was a fantastic meet all the way through," head swim coach Ben Young said. "At the end of the day, it was a great meet and a great opportunity for us to get up and race. It was nice to start the season off with a big win. We focused well and really went in with the mindset that we were not going to lose a race."

C-N placed first in each of the 28 events throughout the meet, and 12 different Eagles took home individual first-place finishes.

The evening began with the women's 200 SC meter medley relay. Kyla Blakemore, Breanna Belcher, Martina Ivanova, and Lily Parr grabbed gold in 2:01.41. Teammates Sarah Covington, Chrisman Rand, Emma Bowling, and Antonia Sanint followed shortly behind to finish second in 2:02.82. On the men's side of competition, Daniel Ribeiro, Asger Hartvig, Daniel de Oliveira, and Arthur Gluzman competed and won first in the event (1:44.43).

"There were some really close races, especially on the men's side of competition. Thankfully, our guys were able to pull it out in the last few seconds. We had some big moments from Jakov Igrec and Benaiah McDowell to come back and win those races. There were cases where they were behind the majority of the race and were able to come back and pull out the win for us to keep that perfect streak going," Young said.

Igrec snagged a first-place finish in the 200 SC meter butterfly in 2:18.88. McDowell finished first in the men's 200 SC meter IM in 2:19.80, and he also grabbed gold in the 200 SC meter breaststroke in 2:42.45.

"On the women's side, Kyla continued to do really well and had some solid races. Kennadi King had a really dominant race in the 100 and 200 freestyle. We had some newcomers stand out as well. Martina really made an impact along with Sarah. It is an adjustment swimming in short course meters, and I was proud of those two. Also, a sophomore for us, Emma, is coming off a knee surgery, and she did really well to continue to fight through that this meet," Young said. "Overall, it is just reassuring to see those team dynamics and watch the team push through."

Blakemore found the top of the podium in the women's 100 (1:06.01) and 200 SC meter backstroke (2:21.36), and King grabbed a pair of first-place finishes in the 100 (1:00.99) and 200 SC meter freestyle (2:14.35) events.

"Based on the score, it was a very dominant victory for us, but the team didn't approach the meet in that way. We got up and raced hard. The details behind how we did it were fantastic, and our approach to the meet allowed for massive learning moments across the board," Young said.

Alonso Castro earned two first-place finishes during the meet. He won the 400 SC meter freestyle with a time of 4:21.89 and the 800 SC meter freestyle in 9:10.59. Gluzman also had two wins on the evening. He grabbed gold in the 100 SC meter butterfly (58.78) and 50 SC meter freestyle (23.88).

Makayla Young was a standout for the women. She placed first in both the 400 freestyle (4:44.59) and 800 freestyle (9:40.12).

The Eagles ended the night with the 400 SC meter freestyle relay. The women won the event in 4:04.11, and the men took first with a time of 3:32.83.

"I was proud of the team tonight. When swimmers came up to talk to us, it was about the race itself more than just the time. In years past and during last year, there was a huge focus on just getting a personal best, but today was different, and the team really had that desire to learn," Young said.

Carson-Newman swim will be back in action Saturday, Oct. 21 for the first home meet of the season. The Eagles will host Lees-McRae at 1:00 p.m. Stay up to date on cneagles.com.