SOUTHERN ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (SAA) – MEN AND WOMEN
- Dates: Wednesday, February 12-Saturday, February 15, 2020
- Location: Crossplex Aquatic Center – Birmingham, AL
- Host: Rhodes
- Defending Champion: Birmingham Southern women (3x); Birmingham Southern men (5x)
- Wednesday Results
- Live Video
- Championship Central
Courtesy: Centre Athletics
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The opening night at the 2020 Southern Athletic Association Swimming & Diving Championships featured a pair of relays for each side as well as the men’s 1m diving competition, and the Centre swim teams have already put on a number of impressive performances in the early going, including a record-breaking relay for each team.
With just a few events scored thus far, the men’s team is in second place, trailing first place Birmingham Southern by 20 points. The women’s team is in first place as they lead BSC by four points.
On the men’s side, the school record fell in the 800 freestyle relay as the team of Henry Lang, Max Shoyat, Arthur Ensign-George and Garrison Herfel finished second overall with a time of 6:52.26. The record time eclipsed the previous mark that was set by last year’s relay squad at the SAA Championships and outperformed this group’s seed time by almost 14 full seconds.
The other relay of the day saw Shoyat and Herfel team with Bryan Killian and Jimmy Kelley to take fourth place in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:34.28.
The final event of the evening on the men’s side was the 1m diving competition and Centre scored 30 points and put a diver on the podium as Kaden Gervacio finished third with 311.30 points, while Scott Gupton finished fifth with 277.60 points.
On the women’s side, the Colonels got a huge lift in the 800 freestyle relay as they also set a new school record. The team of rookie Elise Burch and seniors Chloe Grove, Annie Holmes and Amelia Blankenbeker posted a time of 7:34.61 to break the record set by the 2018 relay squad at the conference finals while also taking first place and earning an NCAA B cut. The time was the fastest relay by the four swimmers all season long, 13 seconds faster than the previous top mark.
The only other women’s event on Wednesday was the 200 medley relay as Blankenbeker and Holmes teamed with Connor Foster and Maddie Hall to finish fourth with a time of 1:49.61. In a championship meet where every point matters, the women’s “B” relay team of rookies Audrey Becker and Grace Crawford, and sophomores Savannah Kingery and Peyton Patel, won their heat with a time of 1:50.85.
Courtesy: Birmingham Southern Athletics
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After a quick opening night of the Southern Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships, the Birmingham-Southern men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams hold good standings among the competition.
After two relay events the men’s one-meter diving event, the Panther men sit in first place with 151 points, 20 points better than second-place Centre. BSC took the top spot in the 200-yard medley relay with the team of Nico Medina (Hollywood, Fla./American Heritage HS), Chase Bolding (Panama City Beach, Fla./Wyoming), Hayden Henderson (Tupelo, Miss./Tupelo HS), Sheridan Harder (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain HS), who finished with a time of 1:31.01. Birmingham-Southern also finished first in the event’s B Final.
The result was the same in the men’s 800-yard freestyle as the BSC team of Medina, Bolding, Tristan Sumpter (Duluth, Ga./Peachtree Ridge HS), and Ryan Emili (Anchorage, Alaska/Cal Lutheran) finished first with a time of 6:46.87.
Defending SAA Diver of the Year, sophomore diver James Hughes (Huntsville, Ala./Grissom HS), was the SAA men’s one-meter diving champion with a score of 548.30.
On the women’s side, the Panthers sit in second place with 98 points, four points behind first-place Centre. BSC finished third in the first event of the evening, the women’s 200-yard medley relay, with a time of 1:48.00. Mary Beth Ronne (Athens, Tenn./McMinn County HS), Birch Ely (Birmingham, Ala./Vanderbilt), Sabrina Morgavi (Madison, Ala./Bob Jones HS), and Maddie Hosick (Lee’s Summit, Mo./Lee’s Summit West HS) comprised the team.
Birmingham-Southern improved its placement in the next event, the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay, as the relay team of Mary Katherine Stewart (Daphne, Ala./Daphne HS), Anna Jordan Luth (Pensacola, Fla./Booker T. Washington HS), Ronne, and Becca Erwin (Duluth, Ga./Duluth HS) finished second with a time of 7:35.62.
The Southern Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships continue on Thursday, Feb. 13 at the Birmingham Crossplex. The preliminary session starts at 10 a.m. with the final session to start in the evening at 6 p.m.
