W. Swimming captures Bluegrass

The men's and women's
swimming teams had a prolific
four days at the Bluegrass
Mountain Conference
(BMC) Championships held
last weekend at Wingate
College in Charlotte, N.C.
The men's team placed third
overall with 520.5 points.
The team was behind host
Wingate (714 points) and
Queen's University-Charlotte
(565 points).
On the women's side,
the team claimed the top
spot and their second consecutive
BMC Championship
with 818 points. It is
the women's fifth firstplace
finish in the BMC
Championships. Sophomore
Taylor Kitayama was
named BMC Swimmer of
the Year, as well as The
News-Letter's Athlete of
the Week, and Head coach
George Kennedy was
named Coach of the Year.
In addition, the women's
team collectively earned 10
conference titles and broke
eight school records.
The men's team finished
day one of the Championships
in sixth-place after a
third-place, 6:46.97 finish
in the 800 Free Relay by junior
Nick Schmidt, sophomore
Will Kimball, freshman
Ryan Cunningham
and junior Dylan Coggin.
On day two, though, the
men's team moved into
third-place and stayed
there, finishing up days
three and four in third
place as well to earn the
bronze.
On day two juniors
Carter Grisriel, Tyler
Woods and Coggin, along
with sophomore Anthony
Lordi, swam the 200 Free
Relay in 1:21.75, a school
record and NCAA B
qualifying time. The men
had continued success in
Championship relays the
following day, when sophomore
Joe Acquavia, senior
Tim Nam, Grisriel and
Woods finished second in
the 200 Medley Relay.
Woods and Schmidt
also clocked in NCAA
Provisional times in the
100 Fly. The men's team
followed this accomplishment
up with more
NCAA Provisional times
from freshman Dylan Davis
in the 100 Back (50.83)
and Cunningham in the
400 individual medley
(4:06.23). Cunningham
took home the bronze
medal in his event.
Sophomore Alex Polyak
placed second in the 200
Breast with an NCAA Provisional
time of 2:04.81. He
was closely followed by his
teammate Nam, who finished
third with an NCAA
Provisional time of 2:06.54
The men's team closed
out its Championship
meet with one last NCAA
Provisional time, a 3:02.6
in the 400 Free Relay set
by Woods, Kimball, senior
Eddy Zandee and
Grisriel. It is the fifth fastest
400 Free Relay time in
school history.
The women's team
had similar success to the
men's, especially in the relays
where the team swept
all five relay titles. The
women opened up their
Championships by breaking
two school records, one
in the 1000 Free and another
in the 800 Free Relay.
Junior Cathy Howard
finished third in the 1000
Free with a time of 10:25.73
to set a new school record,
while senior Elizabeth Rogers,
sophomore Alex Ladd,
sophomore Sarah Rinsma
and freshman Ana Bogdanovski
claimed first in the
800 Free Relay to set theirs.
Sophomore Kylie
Ternes, Bogdanovski, Kitayama
and Rogers swam
the 200 Free Relay in
1:34.97, a school and meet
record time. Rinsma swam
the 500 Free in 4:56.81 and
took first place.
Rogers set another
school record in the 50
Free, placing third with a
time of 23.07. The 400 Medley
Relay team of Kitayama,
freshman Sammi Fox,
freshman Kylie Holden
and Rinsma then swam for
the second fastest time in
school history with a meet
record of 3:49.68.
Soon after, Kitayama
paired up with sophomore
Cristina Cusumano, Holden
and Rogers to defend
the 200 Medley Relay title,
swimming a school-record
time of 1:43.93. Kitayama
also won the 100 Fly with
a time of 56.03 and the 100
Back with a time of 55.09.
Her 100 Back time is an
NCAA automatic qualifier
time.
School records continued
to fall, as Rinsma swam
the 200 Free in 1:50.60, finishing
second. Bogdanovski
and Ladd finished third
and fourth, respectively, in
the same event. Freshman
Maggie Storm took home
her first individual title
with a 1:04.67 first place
finish in the 100 Breast. It is
the second fastest time in
school history.
Bogdanovski swam an
NCAA Provisional time
of 51.24 in the 100 Free
and finished second. She
was followed by Rogers,
who finished third. Storm
finished fourth in the 200
Breast with another NCAA
Provisional time of 2:23.07.
The women's team concluded
their Championships
with a first place finish
in the 400 Free. Ternes,
Rogers, Rinsma and Bogdanovski
swam a 3:27.50
race, an NCAA Provisional
time and the third fastest
time in school history.
Junior Casey Navin was
very impressed with the
way the team performed
and the amount of girls
who contributed.
"I think the girls
showed how versatile, talented
and deep our team
is by winning the meet
by more than 200 points,"
Navin said. "Everyone
worked so hard this past
year and winning the conference
title was definitely
the cherry on top of a great
season."
Both teams will compete
in the NCAA Championships,
Mar. 21-24 in
Indianapolis.