NASHVILLE, Tennessee, February 21. WESTERN Kentucky University women's swimming and diving squad captured its second-straight \u2013 seventh overall — Sun Belt Conference championship, while Denver's men's program claimed its first-ever title, Saturday night at the Centennial SportsPlex\/Tracy Caulkins Pool in Nashville, Tenn. <\/p>\n
The Lady Toppers finished the event with 851 points, while Denver finished second with a total of 766 points. North Texas rounded out the top three female squads, with a total score of 592.<\/p>\n
On the men's side, Denver earned first place among the seven men's squads with its 1,226 points. Defending champion Missouri State came in second with 1,172.50 and WKU came in third place with a total of 1,064.50.<\/p>\n
Denver's Michele Lowry opened the final day of competition in record-fashion, breaking a two-year old mark in the women's 1650 Yard Freestyle. Lowry finished the lengthy event in 16:27.74 \u2013 just two seconds under the previous championship record of 16:29.45. North Texas' Emily Floyd claimed second place with her time of 16:42.06, while Lowry's teammate Amanda McNally rounded out the top three with her time of 16:49.88.<\/p>\n
WKU's Sean Penhale followed suit, shattering the men's 1650 Yard Freestyle, coming in under 15 minutes to set a new championship record at 14:54.14. Penhale's time was nearly 30 second faster than his previous championship mark of 15:23.19 established in 2008. Denver's Clayton Myers and Florida Atlantic's Michael Shimansky rounded out the top three, as Myers registered a time of 15:21.85 and Shimansky came in at 15:30.22.<\/p>\n
The Hilltoppers went 1-2 in the women's 200 Yard Backstroke, as Stephanie Terrell registered a time of 1:58.89 to capture first place and Jessica Aspinall finished just behind at 1:59.09 for second. Denver's Katy Motsinger fell just short of second place, coming in at 1:59.79 \u2013 only seven-tenths of a second behind Aspinall.<\/p>\n
The men's 200 Yard Backstroke proved to be even more exciting, as the top four finishers were all within five-tenths of a second of each other and were all better than the previous championship record of 1:47.31. Denver's Daniel Vollmer, however, emerged as the leader in the event and the new league championship record with his time of 1:46.57. Southern Illinois' Alex Marrucho claimed second place (1:47.03), while New Orleans' Petar Petrovic was third (1:47.13).<\/p>\n
In the women's 100 Yard Freestyle, Denver's Melissa Greeves \u2013 the current record holder in the event (49.89) \u2013 clocked in at 49.95 to capture top honors. She was followed by WKU's pair of Jennifer Adams and Claire Alexandre, who posted times of 50.34 and 50.51, respectively.<\/p>\n
Denver's multiple record-holder Blake Worsley claimed first place in the men's 100 Yard Freestyle \u2013 re-setting the championship mark (44.25) he established during the preliminaries earlier in the afternoon. Worsley posted a time of 43.73, while SIU's Dennis Hedo finished in 44.02 and Missouri State's Roko Simunic registered a time of 44.76.<\/p>\n
WKU's Kara McCarthy helped the Hilltoppers to their second first-place finish of the evening with her time of 2:18.13 in the women's 200 Yard Breaststroke. Teammate Stephanie Martin was just .03 seconds behind, good enough for second place, while Florida Atlantic's Ewa Jamborska was third with a time of 2:18.77.<\/p>\n
Denver's Nicholas Brunger became the third Pioneer of the evening to set a new championship mark \u2013 breaking his own record of 1:59.97 in the men's 200 Yard Breaststroke, claiming top honors in the finals with a time of 1:57.53. Missouri State standout Cajun Skinner was second in the event with his time of 1:58.67 \u2013 also better than Brunger's previous championship time. New Orleans' Mark Schindler came in third with a time of 1:59.93.<\/p>\n
Claire Donahue gave WKU its third win and established the program's second new championship record of the evening. The sophomore re-set her own championship mark in the women's 200 Yard Butterfly, clocking in during the finals at 1:56.97 \u2013 almost two seconds faster than her previous time. Greeves' was second in the event with a time of 1:59.05, while teammate Lisa Ginder was third with her time of 2:00.92 \u2013 giving Denver two much-needed top-three finishes. <\/p>\n
Missouri State's Victor Serra captured top honors in the men's 200 Yard Butterfly, breaking his own championship record of 1:47.19 by more than two seconds \u2013 registering a time of 1:45.08. Denver's Garth Summers was second in the event, clocking a time of 1:45.80, while Florida Atlantic's Mikolaj Czarnecki finished third with a time of 1:47.52.<\/p>\n
In the women's 1M diving, WKU's Emily Waits earned first place with a total score of 256.40, while 3M Diving champion Lauren Harvarth from Florida Atlantic finished second with her score of 248.20. Hilltopper Erica Wilson came in third place with a score of 225.95.<\/p>\n
In the final event of the championship, Denver's relay team set a new championship record in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 3:21.67. WKU grabbed second place with a time of 3:23.31, while New Orleans captured third, clocking in at 3:24.72.<\/p>\n
Denver's men's squad also followed with a win in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, while also setting a new Sun Belt championship mark. The Pioneers finished at 2:58.10 for top honors, while WKU was second with their time of 2:58.82. Missouri State rounded out the top three with a time of 2:59.22.<\/p>\n
Special thanks to the Sun Belt for contributing this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NASHVILLE, Tennessee, February 21. WESTERN Kentucky University women's swimming and diving squad captured its second-straight \u2013 seventh overall — Sun Belt Conference championship, while Denver's men's program claimed its first-ever<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n