Queens Men and Women Capture 8th Straight BMC Conference Titles

2022 BMC Championships

The Queens men and women captured their eighth straight Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships on Sunday. The men’s team won scoring 1,950 points and the women’s team won scoring 1,963 points. 

Women’s Recap

Sophie Lange of Queens kicked off the night with a win in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 16:35.80. Lange was second last year at NCAAs in the event finishing behind fellow teammate Francesca Bains who has since graduated. Lange will look to claim the national title in the event this year. 

Queens picked up big points in the 100 freestyle as they went 1-2-3-8 in the event. Danielle Melilli won in a time of 49.35 which also earned her the NCAA Division II A cut. Melilli was runner-up in the event last year at NCAAs as she went a time of 49.50, only 0.01 behind teammate Lexie Baker who has since graduated.

Tova Andersson of Queens picked up the win in the 200 backstroke going 1:59.14, the only sub-2:00 time of the field. Teammate Vladyslava Maznytska went under 2:00 in prelims with a 1:59.85 but fell off the pace after the 100 mark in finals finishing third in a 2:01.18.

Carson Newman’s Kailee Morgan won the 200 breaststroke touching in a 2:13.75. She was over two and a half seconds faster than the rest of the field as Queens Maike Jung touched second in 2:16.64. Morgan finished 17th in the event at NCAAs last year swimming a 2:19.29 in prelims so she has positioned herself to potentially move up and make the A final in the event this year. 

Closing out the night was the 400 freestyle relay which Queens won touching in a 3:22.17 ahead of Wingate who touched in 3:23.23. Cece Mayer of Queens swam the fastest split of the field as she went a 50.13 on the third leg.

Men’s Recap

Jonas Soerenson of Wingate and Aidan Henry of Queens battled in the 1650 to start the night. Henry charged on the last 50 splitting a 26.91 compared to Soerenson who split a 27.74. Henry came up just short as Soerenson touched in 15:27.15, only 0.01 ahead of Henry. 

Queens went 1-2-4-6 in the 100 freestyle. Matej Dusa led the way swimming to a win in 42.85. He was followed closely behind by Alex Kunert. Both Dusa and Kunert earned NCAA A cuts. Dusa placed second in the event at NCAAs last year and Kunert opted to compete in other events. 

Queens went 1-2-3 in the 200 backstroke. Finn Howard led the way, touching in a 1:45.38 ahead of Andreas Marz who went a 1:46.32. Marz won the B final at NCAAs last year in the event, and Howard did not make the final in the event after placing 22nd in prelims.

Jan Delkeskamp led the way as Queens went 1-2-4-5 in the 200 breaststroke. Delkeskamp touched in 1:59.26, the only swimmer to break the 2:00 mark. Delkeskamp was fourth in the event last year at NCAAs. 

The Queens men dominated the 400 freestyle relay winning by almost three seconds. Matej Dusa had a monster split of 42.47, the fastest split of the field to help give Queens a big lead as they touched in 2:53.54.

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About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022 and 2023 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. Currently, Anya is pursuing her B.A. in Economics and a minor in Government & Law at …

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