The final morning of the 2014 Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship is in the books and the women have established new meet records in every event swum in prelims.
Queens standout Caroline Arakelian set the tone right out of the chutes in the 200 back. Her 1:56.98 was the top qualifying time and bettered Katie Pheil of Wingate’s record of 1:57.38 from last year’s meet. Taylor Kitayama of Johns Hopkins will be second seed going into tonight’s finals; Vika Arkhipova of Wingate, third. Pheil is also in the “A” final so it should be a good race tonight. Big time drops include -3 seconds for Arakelian, -5.3 for both Jeorgia Hicks (Carson-Newman) and Khrysten Stolins (Fairmont), and -24 for West Virginia Wesleyan’s Carson Cunningham, who just missed the “C” final by .11.
The men’s 200 back was one of the big events we highlighted in our preview. Tim Kniffler of Wingate will be in lane 4 tonight, having gone 1:47.10 in prelims. Matt Josa of Queens, and SCAD’s Ryan Searles and Karl Hegwein will challenge Kniffler for the top step of the podium in the final. Look for a new record in the men’s 200 back tonight. Notable swims include a -5.6-second drop to propel Zach Phelps (Queens) into the “A” final, and -7.5 for Tyler Pociluyko (Randolph-Macon) and -5 Ryan O’Connell (Davis & Elkins) to get them both seconds swims in tonight’s “C” final.
Anastasia Bogdanovski of Johns Hopkins broke the meet record in the 100 free with a 50.15 in prelims. She was .72 under the previous mark of 50.87, set at last year’s meet by Kathryn Saurborn. Hopkins and Queens each have three in the “A” final, so they will both gain on Wingate in this event. Game-changing drops in this event: -1.2 to get Lauren Mock (Queens) into the “A” final, -1.6 from Jesse Pope (Converse) for a spot in the “B”, and -2 from Claire Partlow (SCAD) to make the “C”.
Sean Gunn of Limestone led the field in the men’s 100 free, going 44.89 in prelims. Dylon Johnson of Wingate and Harry Traystman of Queens put up solid swims to jump into the second- and third-seeded slots.
Like the 100, the women’s 200 breast will feature three Wingate Bulldogs in the “A” final, led by Jessika Weiss. Her 2:16.40 destroyed the oldest record in the BMC books: Maria Vlashchenko’s 2:19.83 from 2007. There were a lot of significant drops among the women, but the two that stand out most are -8.3 from Hillary Johnson (Converse) and -6.6 from Erica Boles (Catawba) which placed both into the “C” final.
On the men’s side, Roman Kanyuka of Wingate put up the top qualifying time of 2:00.09. Right there with him in lane 5 will be the 100 breast champion, Nic Eriksson of Queens, who qualified in 2:00.18. Big drops came from “B” final qualifiers David Collum of Wingate (-10), Kent Eldreth of Carson-Newman (-7.7) and David Ireland of Washington & Lee (-6.6). Jumping into the “C” were Trent Babcock (-7.9) and Chris Myers (-4.3) of Washington & Lee, and Josh Carter (-3.6) of Randolph-Macon.
Queens’ Hannah Peiffer broke yet another meet record with a 2:02.29 in the 200 fly. She cracked the 2:02.72 mark from Lindsay Calimer that had stood since 2009. Significant drops came from SCAD’s “B” qualifiers Caroline Lepesant (-3.6) and Anna Blackburn (-5), and from “C” qualifiers Brittany Quaranto of Pfeiffer (-10.2) and Carson-Newman’s Mary Grace Arnold (-5.5).
Evan Kolovich (1:49.25) and Marko Blazevski of Wingate are seeded one and two, respectively, for tonight’s final of the men’s 200 fly. Point-shifting drops included Joshua Grover of Carson-Newman (-5.6 to move from 12th to 4th), Eduard Dos Santos of Limestone (-6), and Nelson Helm of Washington & Lee (-8).
The 1650s are in the water now, and the evening session begins at 5:00 p.m.
What an inaugural year for Carson-Newman! Men are doing much better than the expected 9th and girls as well.