2023 CCSA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 15-18, 2023
- Allan Jones Aquatic Center, Knoxville, Tenn.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Defending Champion: Liberty women (4x), Incarnate Word men (1x)
- Start Times (ET)
- Prelims: 10 am
- Finals: 6 pm
- Meet Central
- Pre-Scratch Psych Sheet
- Live Results (MeetMobile)
- Live Stream
The 2023 CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships kicked off Wednesday in Knoxville, TN. In their first year in the conference and as a Division I program, Queens (NC) has taken the lead in both the men’s and women’s standings.
Queens’ Luke Erwee won the men’s 500 free convincingly tonight, clocking a 4:24.03. He swam a consistent race, going 2:11.19 on the first 250, then coming home in 2:12.84.
Meanwhile, Queens’ Sophie Lange took the women’s 500 free in 4:47.68, finishing as the only swimmer in the field under 4:50. She was just off the CCSA Record of 4:47.43, as well as the meet record of 4:47.53.
The men’s 200 IM final saw yet another meet record nearly go down, once again at the hands of a Queens swimmer. Alex Kunert clocked a 1:44.67, getting out to an early lead then building on that lead through the back half. Kunert’s breast split was particularly notable, coming in at 29.95. Queens went 1-2 in the event, with Balazs Berecz taking second in 1:46.15.
Liberty’s Chloe Harris finally broke the Queens streak, winning the women’s 200 IM in 1:59.65. She was trailing Old Dominion’s Tara Enneking badly at the halfway point of the race, but a 34.83 breast split and 28.28 free split propelled her into the lead as she roared home. Enneking came in second with a 2:00.28.
After narrowly missing three meet records in the first three events of the meet, Queens finally got one. Matej Dusa won the men’s 50 free convincingly, clocking a 19.20. Not only did Dusa win the race by over seven-tenths of a second, he shattered the meet record of 19.44, which was also the CCSA conference record. Importantly, Dusa had just set that 19.44 record in prelims. Before his prelims performance, the meet record stood at 19.86, so Dusa absolutely blew the previous mark away.
UNC Asheville grabbed a win as well, seeing Delaney Carlton touch out Queens’ Danielle Melilli by 0.02 seconds. Carlton finished in 22.07, just ahead of Melilli’s 22.09.
Queens then set a new CCSA Record in the men’s 200 medley relay, swimming a 1:25.39. Alexander Bauch (21.15), Balazs Berecz (24.06), Conner Wang (21.29), and Dusa (18.89) combined to earn the win. They obliterated the previous conference record, which stood at 1:27.52 from back in 2014.
The Liberty women grabbed the win in the women’s 200 medley relay. Abbie Shaw (24.34), Heather Gardner (28.01), Chloe Harris (24.16), and Eva Suggs (22.48) teamed up for a 1:38.99, holding off a charge by Queens anchor Danielle Melilli, who split 21.87.
On the boards, Florida Atlantic’s Brandon Shephard won men’s 3-meter with a score of 300.55.
TEAM STANDINGS (THRU DAY ONE)
MEN
- Queens (NC) – 195
- Florida Atlantic – 190.5
- Gardner-Webb – 116
- Old Dominion – 100
- Bellarmine – 64.5
WOMEN
- Queens (NC) – 315
- Liberty – 256
- James Madison – 255
- UNC Asheville – 183
- Florida Gulf Coast – 151
- Campbell – 120
- Old Dominion – 105
- Georgia Southern – 70
- Gardner-Webb – 60
- North Florida – 54
- Bellarmine – 37
