Bluegrass Mountain Conference Day 3 Recap: Marius Kusch Leads All of NCAA in 100 Fly

Photo Courtesy: Queens Athletics

By Emily Thirion, Swimming World College Intern.

The sixth session of the 2019 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship in Charlotte featured twelve events including the 200 free relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast and the 100 back.

Women’s team scores after night three:

Queens-692
Wingate-564
Emmanuel-541.5
Barton-476
Converse-398.5
Carson Newman- 341
Chowan-267
King-239
Catawba-203
Scad-196
Lenoir-Rhyne-149
Mars Hill-106
Salem-66

Men’s team scores after night three:

Queens-662.5
Barton-566
Wingate-486.5
Emmanuel-485
Carson-Newman-400
King-304
Chowan-262
Scad-210
Catawba-185
Lenoir Rhône-159
Mars Hill-134
Salem-88

Women’s 200 Free Relay

Queens University began the meet with an explosive start, with their relay going a 1:30.63. Polina Lapshina, Josephina Lorda, Kyrie Dobson, and Shelly Prayson were all sub 23 to break the conference relay record by nine hundredths of a second. The women clocked in a second and a half faster than their entry time.

Carson-Newman’s relay consisting of Elly Culp, Mary Northcutt, Meredith Ginn, and Laurel Sankowski clocked in a 1:33.35 to take the silver over Wingate. Maria Madsen, Abby Kosic, Lauren Arrington, and Sara Aringsmann rounded out the top three slots in 1:34.21.

Men’s 200 Free Relay

In the same fashion as their Queens teammates, Alex Kunert, Brody Heck, Marius Kusch, and Dima Sydorchenko were all sub 20 to break the conference relay record with a 1:17.59, decimating the previous record of 1:18.84. This time put the men four seconds ahead of their entry time, and their next closest competitor.

Carson-Newman’s men, like their women’s program, edged out Wingate to take second in the relay. Ivo Kunzle, Jonny Goss, Seth Hughes, and Chad Andoljsek came into the wall at 1:21.02. To finish off the podium in the event, Lennart Queiss, Lukas Kraft, Vincent Walden, and Aaron Bowman dropped two seconds from their entry time to finish with a 1:22.85.

Women’s 400 IM

Francesca Bains picked up her first win of the night with her dominant time of 4:20.38. Her time was four seconds faster than her prelim time, and was more than enough to get the win over her Wingate’s Anna Miram (4:24.11). Bains led the race from the first 100, ahead by over a second, and maintained the lead throughout the 400.

Queen’s Hayley Blaauw locked the final podium spot for her university, dropping a half a second from her prelims swim to take third in 4:26.56, while Carson Newman’s Cecilie Jensen was fourth in 4:26.65 and her teammate Meredith Ginn took fifth in 4:38.86 after dropping a second and a half from prelims.

Louise Hallden (4:32.23), Charlotte Knippenberg (4:32.36) and SJ Atkinson (4:37.33) rounded out the heat.

Men’s 400 IM

Carson-Newman’s Caleb Howell took the title in the 400 IM. He had an impressive race, dropping a half a second from his prelims swim. His time of 3:52.60 gave him the race over Queen’s Mohamed Hegazy. Hegazy posted a fast 3:53.45 for second, and was followed by Ben Evans (3:57.41) and George Harsanyi (3:59.10).

Jackson Tunks (4:01.34), Joey Clemmer (4:03.59), Jonas Soerensen (4:03.84), and James Reindl (4:05.36) took fifth through eighth.

Women’s 100 Fly

Queen’s Polina Lapshina picked up a meet record in the prelims and a 100 fly title in the night’s finals. She posted an explosive 52.57. Her teammate Georgia DaCruz, the previous record holder, came in second with a 53.29. Carson Newman’s Elly Culp secured the final podium spot with a 55.53.

Maike Hoener with a competitive race took fourth in 55.79. Kayla Tennant (56.17), Kyrie Dobson (56.47), Rachel Kriger (56.55), and Vladysalva Maznytska (57.98) locked the remaining four top eight positions.

Men’s 100 Fly

Queens senior Marius Kusch posted a time of 44.81 in the 100 fly. The time is the 12th fastest recorded time in short course history. This breaks the NCAA Division II 100 fly record set back in 2015 by Queens Matt Josa (44.89), and the conference record of 45.78. And Kusch completed the race unshaved.

For reference, Kusch has the fastest time in the nation this year. Cal’s Zheng Quah holds the top time in Division I right now at 45.38.

Ruben Stam and Niklas Martin made it to the podium three and three and a half seconds behind Kusch respectively.

Wingate’s Nazarii Kosylo (49.56) and Carson-Newman’s Ivo Kunzle (49.66) took fourth and fifth. Gergo Zachar (49.74), Vince Regent (50.02), and Aaron Bowman (50.10) claimed the remaining top eight.

Women’s 200 Free

Josephina Lorda claimed the top spot in the 200 free final tonight with a 1:48.68. She was closely followed by Queen’s teammate Lexie Baker, who posted a 1:48.79. Wingate’s Hanna Van Horen dropped over half a second to claim the bronze (1:51.00). Carson-Newman’s Gabby Aguiar took fourth in 1:51.49.

Anna De Boers (1:51.79), Leticia Odorici (1:51.86), Carolin Albers (1:52.66), and Abby Kosic (1:52.74) took fifth through eighth.

Men’s 200 Free

Alex Kunert took the title in the men’s 200 free, also claiming a meet record in 1:33.42. The record set back in 2016 by Queen’s teammate Dion Dreesens (1:34.20) was shattered. Kunert dropped a second and a half from his prelims race. Kunert’s teammates Alen Mosic (1:35.51) and Skyler Cook-Weeks (1:37.11) swept the podium for Queens.

Lennart Queiss (1:37.34), Matthew George (1:38.75), Lukas Kraft (1:40.01), and Jon Lancaster (1:40.27), and Brody Heck (1:40.88) earned the remaining top eight slots.

Women’s 100 Breast

Shelly Prayson won the 100 breast, and crushed her own conference record from two years prior in 1:00.90. Back in 2017 Prayson won the event in 1:01.38. Anne-Sofie Nissen took the silver with a 1:02.59. Maike Hoener had another excellent swim taking third in 1:02.78.

Sara Aringsmann (1:03.41), SJ Atkinson (1:04.74), Sara Lacusky (1:05.76), Kimberly Scheiber (1:05.82), and Lauren Arrington (1:07.00) took fourth through eighth in the event.

Men’s 100 Breast

Wingate’s Giacomo Viazzo came out on top in the 100 breast. His 53.16 was enough to best second place swimmer Jan Delkeskamp (53.99). Jacob Queen’s 55.85 was enough to take third. Tyler Bowersox added over half a second to his prelims time, but his race still carried him to a fourth place finish. Andrew Lockhart (56.24), Andrei Roman (56.40), Federico Higareda (56.46), and Garrett Stelling (57.13) battled it out for the remaining top eight places.

Women’s 100 Back

Bobbi Gichard of Queens won the 100 back in 54.06, dropping a half a second from her prelims time. Her teammates Rachel Massaro (54.08) and Fouke Beeksma (54.40) took second and third respectively in a tight race.

Anna Miram (54.71), Vladysalva Mazntyska (55.20), Courtney Stewart (56.27), Kelley Jones (57.05), and Ruth Hullette (57.76) all scored top eight points for their teams.

Men’s 100 Back

Andrei Ungur of Carson-Newman took the title in the 100 back. Ungur’s 48.13 bested teammate Seth Hughes (48.33) who finished in second. Baptise Leger (48.74) of Queens took third. Markus Furst (49.13) finished fourth, followed by Wingate teammate David Granados (49.91).

Gatlin Saylors (50.04) and Daniel Brisuda (50.09) finished off the top scorers in the event.

Queens Men’s and Women’s programs lead in team score at the end of the third night. Day four of the BMC Championship continues tomorrow with prelims at 10 a.m. followed by finals at 5 p.m. at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center.

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