Bluegrass Mountain Conference – Men and Women
- Dates: Wednesday, February 11th – Saturday, February 14th, 2015, Prelims 10am/Finals 6pm (Saturday 5pm)
- Location: Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center, Charlotte, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Wingate (Women – 2nd straight), Wingate (Men – 7th straight) (results)
- Live Results: Available via Meet Mobile
- Live Video (Finals only): Available
- Championship Central
Johns Hopkins and Wingate joined Queens as the top performers of the morning session on Day Four of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference championships in Charlotte. Full results here. The women’s meet is playing out pretty much as expected, with one exception: Carson-Newman has done exceedingly well, outswimming both their psych sheet seedings and their prelims placings. The Eagles should secure a fouth-place finish in the women’s meet. The men’s meet is everything we expected and more so. Queens has the talent at the top and the depth in the middle to dominate the conference and will be a real force to reckon with at NCAA D2 nationals.
In the final morning’s prelims session, meet record-holder, Caroline Arakelian of Queens, went 1:57.92 to lead the qualifiers in the 200 back. Viktoriya Arkhipova from Wingate (2:02.28), Rachel Hickey of Limestone (2:03.17), Rita Koryukova (Wingate), Samantha Fox (JHU), Amanda Henderson (Carson-Newman), Margaret Stansberry (Carson-Newman), and Michelle Kim (JHU) make up the rest of the “A” final.
Ben Taylor of Queens was top qualifier in the men’s 200 back with 1:46.50. He will be joined by Paul Ungur from Carson-Newman (1:48.33), Samuel Knapp of Wingate, Zach Phelps (Queens), John Suther (Queens), Dominic Brus (Catawba), Dylan Davis (JHU), and Denis Schulz (Limestone).
Ana Bogdanovski of Johns Hopkins. Photo courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics
The 100 free is always a thrill but tonight’s should be spectacular. Two of the most decorated freestylers of the meet will face off in the middle of the pool, having qualified first and second. Ana Bogdanovski of Hopkins went 50.06 in prelims, while Patri Castro Ortega from Queens went 50.07. Other contenders are Emily Reh (Limestone), Lillian Gordy (Queens), Ana Fish (Wingate), Alexandra Marshall (Queens), Leigh-Ann Clark (Wingate), and Shane Knight (Queens).
The men’s race should be no less exciting. Catawba’s Sebastian Holmberg put up a 44.47 to lead prelims, while Wingate’s Jerome Heidrich (44.60) and Issam Zeraidi (44.89), and Carson-Newman’s Stephen Parsons (44.95) all qualified with sub-45s. The rest of the “A” final will be made up of Ben Young (Carson-Newman), Hayden Kosater and Austin Sumrall (Queens), and Nik Seymenov (Fairmont State).
Another meet record that is likely to fall is the 200 breast. Wingate’s Olga Kosheleva (2:17.19) and Jessika Weiss (2:19.30) both have a shot at it, as does Hopkins’ Gwynnie LaMastra (2:19.80). The trio finished 1-2-3, respectively, in last night’s 100 breast final. Kaitlin Jones (JHU), Maggie Melhorn and Nancy Claire Smith (Carson-Newman), Marinela Procopii (Wingate), and Janin Kassner (Catawba) are also contenders.
Queens’ Nic Eriksson, who just eked out a win over Limestone’s Tobias Feigl in the 100 breast last night, is top seed for tonight’s 200 final with 1:57.14. Roman Kanyuka from Wingate (2:00.38) qualified second, just ahead of Inigo Alarcia of Pfeiffer (2:01.03). Joining them will be Damjan Petrovski (Wingate), Devyn Hughes (Queens), Kristofers Pone (Limestone), Will Hicks (Queens), and Feigl (Limestone).
Hannah Peiffer of Queens leads the qualifiers for the 200 fly with her prelims swim of 2:01.23. Sofia Petrenko, who has two silver medals to her name so far with the 200 IM and 200 free, is seeded second in 2:01.90. McKenzie Stevens from Queens, Lexy Raybon (Carson-Newman), Abby Brown (JHU), Linda Baron (Queens), Shirley Chan (JHU), and Natalia Rincon (JHU) make up the rest of the championship final.
Matt Josa, who has been on fire this weekend, is the top seed in the men’s 200 fly with a prelims time of 1:48.25. Mark Wilson from Johns Hopkins (1:49.64) and Homay Haghighijadid from Limestone (1:50.08) will be on either side of him. Also in that final will be Joel Ax (SCAD), Oystein Fjeldberg (Wingate), Kyle Otazu (JHU), Theo Zatterstrom (Catawba), and Nate Dacruz (Queens).
Up/Mid/Down – Women
| Carson-Newman | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Catawba | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Converse | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Davis & Elkins | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Fairmont | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Johns Hopkins | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| Lenoir-Rhyne | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Limestone | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| Pfeiffer | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Queens | 8 | 5 | 1 |
| SCAD | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Wingate | 8 | 5 | 2 |
| WV Wesleyan | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Up/Mid/Down – Men
| Carson-Newman | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Catawba | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Davis & Elkins | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Fairmont | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Johns Hopkins | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Lenoir-Rhyne | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Limestone | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| Pfeiffer | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Queens | 10 | 3 | 0 |
| SCAD | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Wingate | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| WV Wesleyan | 0 | 0 | 0 |