Three Conference Records Set During Day 1 of BMC Championships

2022 BMC Championships

• February 10-13, 2022
• Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Day 1 Results (PDF)

During the first day of the 2022 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships, the Queens University of Charlotte swimmers set three conference records.

First, the Queens men won the 200 medley relay in 1:25.76, beating the 2018 record of 1:26.19, also set by Queens. The relay consisted of Finn Howard on back (21.39), Balázs Berecz on breast (24.19), Matej Dusa on fly (20.90), and Skyler Cook-Weeks on free (19.28). Howard is an All-American in the 100 back, Berecz is an All-American in the 200 breast, Dusa traded his freestyle specialty for fly (though he is an All-American in this event), and Cook-Weeks is an All-American in the 50 free.

Second, Sophie Lange recorded a 9:55.79 in the 1000 free, breaking former Queens swimmer Sarah Reamy’s 2019 record of 9:57.45. Lange’s time also narrowly defeated her time at NCAA DII Championship time of 9:55.89, which had won her second. The winner last year at DII Championships was Drury’s Allison Weber, who swam a 9:53.12.

Lange narrowly won her race, beating Wingate’s Kate Agger by less than a second. Agger would go on to lower her school record with her time of 9:56.01.

Third, in the 50 free, Dusa broke his own conference record with a time of 19.32. His previous record was 19.35, from 2021. Dusa earned an A cut in his event. The only other Royal to earn an A cut, and thus qualify for NCAA Championships, Alex Kunert, did so in the 200 IM with his time of 1:45.68.

At the end of Day 1, Queens leads the men’s and women’s rankings with 513 and 541 points, respectively, partially thanks to nine first-place finishes. Wingate and Carson-Newman round out the second and third spots on both the men’s and women’s sides. 

The Wingate men set a new school record in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:26.94. The 2nd-place race consisted of teammates Thomas Valenti on back (22.35), Fedor Solokov on breast (23.89), Kalle Svensson on fly (21.20), and Slava Ohnov on free (19.50). The previous record, 1:27.72, was set at the 2020 NCAA Champs.

In the 1000 free, the Wingate men went a 1-2 split, with winner Miguel Marcos’ time of 9:08.41 ranking as the third-fastest of all time for his school.

The men’s 200 free relay also set a new school record with a time of 1:19.14, to beat the previous record of 1:20.41. The relay consisted of Ohnov (20.01), Svensson (19.72), Bozo Puhalovic (19.74), and Marcel Snitko (19.67).

Overall, Queens and Wingate took the top two spots in every event except for the women’s 200 free relay, where Carson-Newman took 2nd with a time of 1:35.22. The team consisted of Anna Tudor (23.85), Summer Osborne (23.84), Chrisman Rand (23.97), and Antonia Sanint (23.56).