By Andy Ross, Swimming World College Intern
Queens ran away with the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship on Saturday night. The defending national champions won nearly every single event on Saturday night to win for the second year in a row.
McKenzie Stevens got things rolling for the Royals with a 16:56.83 in the 1650. Julie Wessler of Wingate was second at 16:59.91 and Caroline Lepesant of SCAD was third at 17:02.90.
In the women’s 200 back, it was a relative upset as Viktoriya Arkhipova of Wingate went 1:55.86 to set a new meet record and narrowly miss the NCAA record. Both of the aforementioned meet records were held by Caroline Arakelian as she finished second in the race with a 1:58.87. Hannah Peiffer of Queens was third at 2:01.43.
Patricia Castro Ortega could not go four for four in NCAA records as she fell just short of the 100 free record. She finished at 49.19 and missed her NCAA record that was 48.92. She did however, set the meet record that was hers as 49.31. Margaret Stansberry of Carson Newman was second at 50.61 and Shelly Prayson of Queens was third at 50.79.
Jessika Weiss of Wingate held off a charging Brittney Phelan of Queens to win the 200 breast. Weiss won with a 2:15.90 and Phelan was second at 2:15.95. Wingate’s Olga Kosheleva finished third at 2:17.17. Phelan will however, hang on to the meet record that she set in prelims with a 2:14.97.
Sofia Petrenko of Wingate won the women’s 200 fly with a 1:59.48. Queens’ Josephina Lorda was second at 2:01.95 and Lexy Raybon of Carson Newman finished in third at 2:03.68.
Queens put an exclamation point on the weekend with a 3:20.99 400 free relay win, just missing the meet record. Castro Ortega (49.57), Arakelian (50.58), Kyrie Dobson (50.63) and Prayson (50.21) won the race ahead of second place Wingate (3:23.19) and Carson Newman (3:26.89).
On the men’s side of things, the crowd saw the lead change hands multiple times in the 1650. Nick Arakelian of Queens led things early on, then was passed by teammate Hector Tricas. Ultimately though, it was Andrew Greenhalgh of Johns Hopkins taking home the title with a 15:22.68. Joel Ax of SCAD was second at 15:28.32 and Tricas was third at 15:31.46.
Zach Phelps made it a sweep of the backstroke events with a win in the 200 back. The Queens senior went 1:44.81. Tyler Prescott of SCAD was second at 1:48.15 and Leif-Henning Kluever was third from Wingate at 1:48.93.
In the men’s 100 free, Dion Dreesens could not set a third NCAA record as he went 43.84 to win for Queens. He missed the meet record that was 43.38 from 2009 by Craig Jordens of Limestone. Wingate’s Jerome Heidrich was second at 44.33 and Queens’ Ben Mayes was third at 44.80.
Queens’ Rost Fedyna had a dominating performance in the 200 breast with a 1:57.60. He led a 1-2 finish for the Royals as Inigo Alarcia was second at 1:59.61 and Kristofers Pone of Limestone was third at 2:00.54.
In the men’s 200 fly, Oystein Fjeldberg held off a tight field with a 1:51.20 win for Wingate. His teammate Niklas Martin was second at 1:51.70 and Queens’ Nate Dacruz was third at 1:51.81.
Queens finished off the meet with a meet record in the 400 free relay. Dreesens (43.48), Phelps (44.11), Ben Taylor (45.00) and Mayes (43.87) went 2:56.46 to wipe the 2:57.80 from last year off the books. Wingate was second at 2:57.89 and Johns Hopkins was third at 3:01.79.
Women’s Final Team Scores
Queens, 1634
Wingate, 1269.5
Carson Newman, 1041
Johns Hopkins, 873.5
SCAD, 791.5
Limestone, 520
Lenoir Rhyne, 352
Catawba, 317
Fairmont State, 259
Converse, 244
Davis & Elkins, 238
West Virginia Wesleyan, 216.5
Men’s Final Team Scores
Queens, 1561
Wingate, 1193
Limestone, 990
Johns Hopkins, 820.5
Carson Newman, 812
SCAD, 587.5
Catawba, 442
Fairmont State, 441
Lenoir Rhyne, 319
Davis & Elkins, 276
West Virginia Wesleyan, 226
Results can be found on meet mobile.
Congratulations!