Queens University of Charlotte Takes Early Lead at Bluegrass Mountain Conference Meet

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, February 15. THE weather taking over the East Coast of the United States forced a rescheduling of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference swimming championships, starting on Friday instead of Thursday. The first day of competition featured timed finals in six events, including five that were to be swum as prelims and finals on Friday.

Queens University of Charlotte leads the points race in the men’s and women’s races over Wingate, but not by much. In the men’s race, Queens leads 473.5-417, while the Royals are ahead 431.5-422 in the women’s meet.

In the first event, the women’s 1000 free, Queens University of Charlotte took the top three pots, led by Meridith Boudreaux with a 10:07.70 while Lauren Frizzell placed second with a 10:18.06 and Nikki Johnston was third with a 10:20.98.

Queens won the men’s 1000 free as well with a 9:11.50 ahead of Johns Hopkins’ Andrew Greenhalgh, who posted a 9:23.40 for a distant second. Makis Jorgensen took third with a 9:27.29.

To kick off the evening session of timed finals events, Queens University won the women’s and men’s 200 free relay with a 1:32.90 in the women’s event and 1:20.72 in the men’s race.

Lillan Gordy of Queens won the women’s 500 free with a 4:56.62 over two others who also broke five minutes in the final. Rachel Hickey, representing Limestone, posted a 4:59.57 over Frizzell’s 4:59.97. In the men’s 500, Wingate Olympian Marko Blazevski posted a 4:28.27 to win the race. Alex Menke of Queens was second with a 4:30.32 while Leif-Henning Kluever of Wingate posted a 4:30.65 to place third.

Caroline Arkelian of Queens posted a conference meet record 2:01.61 in the women’s 200 IM, beating her own mark of 2:02.03 from last year. She’ll be gunning for Amanda Thomas’ NCAA Division II record of 2:00.09 at the championship meet next month. Not far behind Arkelian in second was Wingate’s Sofia Petrenko with a 2:02.05, just off the previous meet record, and Taylor Kitayama of Johns Hopkins was third with a 2:03.95.

Queens superstar Matt Josa posted a 1:47.14 to win the 200 IM ahead of Wingate’s Tim Kniffler, who was second with a 1:48.27. Wingate’s David Collum finished third with a 1:50.22.

In the women’s 50 free, Anastasia Bogdonaovski of Johns Hopkins won with a 23.24 over the 23.32 by Limestone’s Emily Reh and 23.52 by Sarah Rinsma. Limestone’s Sean Gunn got the win in the men’s 50 free with a 20.32, with Issam Zeraidi of Wingate placing second with a 20.39 and Nic Eriksson of Queens getting third with a 20.47.

The 400 medley relays rounded out the competition, and Queens took both races. The women posted a 3:45.78, while the men swam a 3:13.66, just missing the conference meet record of 3:13.50. The men’s race featured a stunning 46.98 butterfly split from Josa and a 52.71 breaststroke leg from Erikkson.

Results For: Bluegrass Mountain Conference

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use