Meet of the Week: Queens, Wingate Close Regular Season At South Carolina

Queens and Wingate closed their regular season schedule with a two-day invitational meet in South Carolina, facing off against Division I opponents University of South Carolina, East Carolina University, and UNC-Wilmington. Both teams are gearing up for their conference meets in the coming weeks, which can be a tricky time of year as teams are beginning to rest and prepare for championships.

Queens men had a notable performance at the meet, securing several wins across the two day meet against stiff competition. The team of freshman Dmytro Sydorchenko, sophomore Marius Kusch, junior Paul Pijulet, and junior Dion Dreesens opened the meet with a resounding win the 200 freestyle relay, posting a time of 1:21.77 to take the win. The Royals also took the 400 freestyle relay (2:59.41) and placed 3 swimmers in the top 5 of the individual men’s 100 free, with Dreesens third (45.25), Sydorchenko fourth (45.42), and Kusch fifth (45.46). There were several wins for the Royals over the meet that included:

Pijulet in the 100 back (48.39) and 200 back (1:47.02)
Kusch in the 200 free (1:38.63) and the 100 fly (48.50)
Sydorchenko in the 50 free (20.43),
Rost Fedyna in the 200 breast (2:01.14)

Junior Nick Arakelian also had a strong swim in the 400 IM, placing second in 3:55.59. In the women’s meet, McKenzie Stevens placed first overall for the Royals in the 200 free (1:51.78), while Dasha Talanova had solid breaststroke swims (1:05.33, 2:19.10).

Wingate head coach Kirk Sanocki commented that this was one of the Bulldogs best performances at this meet in five years heading into conferences. Junior transfer Alex Divelbiss continued a strong year with a pair of fourth place finishes in the 100 butterfly (57.37) and 200 IM (2:06.98) in addition to a fifth in the 400 IM (4:31.93). Senior breaststroke duo of seniors Olga Kosheleva and Jessika Weiss had strong swims in the breaststroke events. The Bulldog’s men’s highest finish came from senior Leif-Henning Kluever, who was fifth in the 200 IM (1:53.18). Wingate and Queens will meet again at the Bluegrass Conference meet Feb 8-11.

Full results of the quad meet can be found here (day one) and here (day two).

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