By Andy Ross, Swimming World College Intern
The Queens Royals started and ended night 2 of the 2016 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships with NCAA record setting performances.
Queens sophomore Patricia Castro Ortega continued her hot meet with another NCAA Division II record. This time she took down her own 500 free record with a 4:40.65. The old record was 4:43.37 from last year’s NCAAs. Castro Ortega set the 200 free NCAA record last night leading off the 800 free relay. Lexy Raybon of Carson Newman was second at 4:56.40 and Caroline Lepesant of SCAD was third at 4:58.55.
In the 200 IM, Sofia Petrenko of Wingate won in an upset over defending champion Caroline Arakelian of Queens. Petrenko used a strong breaststroke leg to pull away from Arakelian and just dipped under the 2-minute barrier with a 1:59.93. Arakelian was second with a 2:02.56 and Queens’ Josephina Lorda was third at 2:03.29.
Queens freshman Kyrie Dobson won the sprint 50 free, out-swimming Armony Dumur of Wingate. Dumur used her superb under waters to take the race out first, but Dobson beat her to the wall going 23.17. Dumur was second at 23.24 and Wingate’s Ana Fish was third at 23.36.
Queens finished the night for the women with another NCAA record in the 400 medley relay. The team of Hannah Peiffer (54.19), Brittney Phelan (1:01.75), Castro Ortega (53.49) and Dobson (49.60) went 3:39.03 to just get by the old record of 3:39.29 set by Drury last year. Wingate was right behind them, pushing the Royals the whole time. Wingate’s team of Viktoriya Arkhipova (55.59), Jessika Weiss (1:01.61), Dumur (52.96) and Petrenko (49.69) finished in second with a solid 3:39.85. The announcer in the meet is informing the audience that most of the Queens team is not fully shaved or rested, so perhaps these records could go down even further in a month at NCAAs.
On the men’s side of things, Nick Arakelian of Queens took control of the 500 free final and won going away with a 4:25.48. Jerome Heidrich of Wingate was second at 4:29.35 and Leif-Henning Kluever of Wingate was third at 4:30.31. The announcer also said Arakelian wasn’t shaved and predicted a 4:18 at NCAAs. We will see if that comes true in about a month.
In the 200 IM, Inigo Alarcia led a sweep of the top four finishers for Queens. Alarcia went 1:48.67 to win while Nate Dacruz (1:50.04), Devyn Hughes (1:50.17) and Ben Taylor (1:50.53) completed the sweep.
Zach Phelps continued with the Queens domination with a win in the 50 free at 20.21. Teammate Ben Mayes was second at 20.32 and Limestone’s Tobias Feigl was third at 20.49.
The Royals finished off a dominant night with a win in the 400 medley relay. No new NCAA record was established but Phelps set a meet record on the leadoff with a 47.31 backstroke leg. The old record was Paul Ungur’s 47.54 from last year. Ungur went to Carson Newman. Rost Fedyna (53.53), Dion Dreesens (47.07) and Taylor (43.91) finished the relay with a 3:11.82. Limestone held off a charging Wingate to finish second at 3:17.55 to Wingate’s 3:17.65.
Women’s Team Scores
Queens, 648
Wingate, 445
Carson-Newman, 395
Johns Hopkins, 283
SCAD, 269.5
Limestone, 217
Lenoir Rhyne, 176
Catawba, 144
Fairmont State, 127
Davis & Elkins, 119
Converse, 118
West Virginia Wesleyan, 94.5
Men’s Team Scores
Queens, 602.5
Wingate, 444.5
Carson Newman, 346
Limestone, 318
Johns Hopkins, 283
Fairmont State, 204
SCAD, 193
Lenoir Rhyne, 183
Catawba, 181
Davis & Elkins, 139
West Virginia Wesleyan, 114
Meet results are on meet mobile.
Day 2 Video Archive
Day 1 Video Archive
