Dusa Goes 19.3 As Queens Wins 7th-Straight Bluegrass Mountain Conference Titles

2021 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships

• Thursday, February 18 – Sunday, February 21, 2021
• Fort Mill YMCA Complex, Fort Mill, South Carolina
• Full results

The Queens University women won 17 of 19 events as Queens nabbed its 7th-straight Bluegrass Mountain Conference titles for both women and men.

Women’s Meet

The women of Queens lost just two events across the entire meet. That included a sweep of all five relays and multiple multi-event winners.

Senior Francesca Bains and sophomore Danielle Melilli each won three individual events to lead the way. Bains handled the distance end of the spectrum, picking up conference titles in the 1000 free (9:59.80) and 1650 free (16:36.58). She also won the 400 IM (4:17.67) and finished second in the 500 free (4:52.20). The senior also pulled relay duty, leading the 800 free relay with a 1:49.2 anchor split and splitting 50.1 on the anchor leg of the 400 free relay.

Melilli took care of the sprint end of things for Queens. She went 23.10 in the 50 free and 49.70 in the 100 free. Showing her versatility, the sophomore also won the 100 breast title in 1:01.80. Melilli also swam breaststroke on both winning medley relays and split a team-best 48.9 on the winning 400 free relay.

Other multi-event winners on the women’s side:

• Sophomore Guilia Grasso won the 200 free (1:47.68) and 500 free (4:50.44), beating Melilli in the former and Bains in the latter.
• Meanwhile senior Rachel Massaro swept the backstrokes with times of 53.69 and 1:57.80.
• That left the butterfly races for junior Kayla Tennant, who won in 54.49 and 2:00.50.

Wingate was second as a team, getting a 2:14.69 win in the 200 breast from Anne-Sofie Nissen.

Carson-Newman had the other conference champ: 200 IM winner Meredith Ginn (2:01.18).

Final Team Points

1. Queens – 1868.5
2. Wingate – 1705.5
3. Carson-Newman – 1443
4. Lenoir Rhyne – 711
5. Mars Hill – 389
6. Catawba – 299

Men’s Meet

The Queens men won a dozen events, including four of five relays.

Junior Jan Delkeskamp was the powerhouse, winning all four of his individual events. Delkeskamp swept both breaststroke races by solid margins: his 53.91 won the 100 breast by about seven tenths of a second, and his 1:58.17 won the 200 breast by 1.8. He needed to work a little harder to get his hand on the wall first in both IMs, though – his 1:47.67 won the 200 IM by just four tenths, and the 400 IM came down to 0.16 seconds with Delkekamp winning in 3:51.01.

Delkeskamp also swam breaststroke on the winning 400 medley relay.

Freshman Matej Dusa had a smashing debut for Queens. He won the 50 free (19.35) and 100 free (43.30), smashing the conference record in the 50 while winning by more than half a second. Dusa also swam key legs on four winning relays. The highlight was probably a 19.33 leadoff leg of the 200 free relay that rewrote the conference record just events after the individual 50 free.

Wingate was second overall as a team. Iran Almeida and Jonas Soerensen each won two events apiece. Almeida completed a butterfly sweep with times of 47.09 in the 100 and 1:43.94 in the 200. Soerensen swept the distance races, going 9:08.73 in the 1000 and 15:25.99 in the 1650.

Other event winners:

• Carson-Newman’s Raphael Paiva won the 200 free in 1:35.71.
• Wingate’s Daniel Mizera took the 500 free in 4:27.33.
• Queens’ Finn Howard won the 100 back in 48.07.
• Queens completed a sweep of the backstrokes via a 1:45.43 win from Andreas März in the 200 back.

Final Team Points

1. Queens – 1892
2. Wingate – 1710
3. Carson-Newman – 1366.5
4. Lenoir-Rhyne – 812.5
5. Mars Hill – 341`
6. Catawba – 284