Queens, Carson-Newman And West Florida Open 2014 With Tri-Meet In Pensacola

PENSACOLA, Florida, January 2. QUEENS University picked up right where it left off in 2013 with another dominating performance in the team’s first meet of the new year. The Royals swept their dual meets against Carson-Newman and West Florida this afternoon, with four swimmers (Lillian Gordy, Hannah Peiffer, Caroline Arakelian and Ben Taylor) winning two events apiece.

Queens Press Release

The Royals swim teams opened 2014 in style with both the men and women earning victories this afternoon in Florida. The men won with the score of 119-74 against Carson-Newman, while the women defeated Carson-Newman and West Florida by the scores of 125-71 and 123-77 respectively.

The women opened up their meet with a win in the 200 medley relay with the team of Hannah Peiffer, Emma Durante, Madeleine Wallmon, and Alexandra Marshall finishing in the time of 1:48.61.

From there the Royals continued to string together first place finishes with Lillian Gordy winning the 1000 and 100 freestyle in the times of 10:34.94 and 54.14. The freshman Peiffer also took first in the 100 butterfly with a 57.64 B-cut and a 59.21 in the 100 backstroke.

Also picking up multiple victories was Caroline Arakelian who set two new facility records with a 1:51.64 B-cut in the 200 freestyle and a 4:28.80 B-cut in the 400 IM.

Meridith Boudreaux was also among the winners with a strong time of 5:11.23 in the 500 freestyle.

Like the women, the men’s team opened their side of the meet with a first place finish in the 200 medley relay with the team of Harry Traystman, Niclas Eriksson, Evante Gibson, and Hayden Kosater finishing in the time of 1:33.07

From that point on the Royals consistently touched the wall first and picked up seven more first place finishes throughout the meet. Starting these strong individual swims was a B-cut finish of 9:35.65 by Alex Menke in the 1000 freestyle.

Following his lead were Traystman with a 21.60 in the 50 freestyle, Gibson with a 51.84 in the 100 butterfly, and Eriksson with a 49.59 in the 100 freestyle. Also picking up a victory in the 400 medley was Christian Yeatts.

Adding multiple victories to the Royals’ scorebsheet was sophomore Ben Taylor with a 1:45.35 in the 200 freestyle and a 55.63 in the 100 backstroke.

Both teams swim next on January 11, when they host Lenoir-Rhyne for the Royals’ Senior Day.

West Florida Press Release

The No. 18 West Florida women’s swimming and diving team came back from the holiday break with a solid performance on Thursday. The Argonauts defeated Carson-Newman by a score of 133-72 and fell to No. 2 Queens (N.C.) 123-77. With the split, the Argos are now 6-3 in dual meets in their inaugural season.

“We had some excellent races against two very good teams, and we handled ourselves well against Carson-Newman who is in the same position as us in their first year,” said UWF head coach Andrew Hancock. “Queens is one of the benchmarks in NCAA Division II and we hung very well against them as well. There were some close races, and on a different day if we win some of those we’d have had a close meet. I’m proud of our girls. We trained very hard this week, and today we swam great all things considered.”

UWF was again strong in the relays on Thursday. The Argos’ 200 medley relay team of Emily Mitchell (Allen Park, Mich./Darton State), Jennifer Starck (Hunstville, Ala./Huntsville HS), Peggy de Villiers (Somerset West, South Africa/Drury) and Carla Robles (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef HS) started the meet with a time of 1:49.48 and a second place finish, and the 200 free relay team of Mitchell, Cheryl Corvo (Fort Walton Beach, Fla./Florida Gulf Coast), Starck and Kelsey Fry (Plant City, Fla./Plant City HS) placed first with a mark of 1:40.62 to close the meet.

Corvo starred for UWF in the individual races, placing second in the 200 free with a lifetime best time of 1:56.29. That time also broke the UWF school record. The senior also placed second in the 200 back (59.60).

“Cheryl swimming a lifetime best was phenomenal,” said Hancock. “That’s very unusual for seniors in college to swim lifetime bests in January. I’m very happy for her.”

Including Corvo, UWF had 14 top five individual finishes. Anna-Marie Macht (Markkleeberg, Germany/Darton State) took first in the 100 breast (1:08.17), and she was joined in the top five in that event by Paulina Szydlo (Wroclaw, Poland/Gimbasket HS) at 1:08.52 and Alysiah Stock (Panama City, Fla./Mosley HS) at 1:12.31. Macht finished with three top five finishes, while Savannah Antonetz (Lake Charles, La./Barbe HS), Corvo, de Villiers and Karisa Kostecki (Lithia, Fla./Newsome HS) each had two.

The Argos will head on the road for their next three meets, first traveling to Jacksonville, Fla. to face North Florida, Brenau and Campbell on Jan. 11. UWF will then face Delta State and Henderson State in Cleveland, Miss. on Jan. 17, followed by a trip to Nashville, Tenn. to face Vanderbilt and Liberty on Jan. 18. UWF’s next home meet on Feb. 1 will be its last, and the Argos will host Birmingham-Southern, Delta State, LaGrange and Thomas (Ga.).

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