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Justin Bender of Alpharetta, Georgia, has committed to Gardner-Webb University and will join the Runnin’ Bulldogs in the fall of 2022. He brings times in the breaststroke events that are close to school records. Those times would also have scored in “A” finals at the 2021 Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) Championship meet.
Top SCY Times
- 100 backstroke: 52.91
- 100 breaststroke: 54.37
- 200 breaststroke: 1:59.72
- 200 IM: 1:52.51
- 400 IM: 4:17.95
His 100 breaststroke time would have placed second at the 2021 CCSA Championships and is currently .05 off the school record. His 200 breaststroke would have also placed second at the championship meet and is 1.13 off the school record. He also provides scoring potential in the 200 IM, as his best time there would have placed eighth last season.
Bender is close to achieving NCAA “B” cuts in the 100 and 200 breaststroke as well. He is .10 away in the 100 breaststroke and 1.29 away in the 100 breaststroke.
He currently swims for Spartans Aquatic Club and Centennial High School in Roswell, Georgia. At the Speedo Winter Junior Championships, he competed in the 50 free (21.58), 50 breaststroke (25.40), 100 breaststroke (54.74), 200 breaststroke (2:03.13), and 200 IM (1:53.17).
Bender will continue his training under Mike Blum, who recently signed a contract extension with the school. In his second year, he led the men’s team to their first CCSA Conference championship in school history. He was then awarded CCSA Co-Coach of the Year.
The breaststroke specialist will join Jonathan Frye, Daniel Baldwin, and Zach Bennett, who all swam and scored in the “A” finals of the 100 and 200 breaststroke at last year’s championships, which was swam in a nine-lane pool. Frye (55.97), Baldwin (56.92), and Bennett (57.87) placed third, sixth, and ninth respectively in the 100 breaststroke. Frye won the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:00.77: Bennett (2:05.15) and Baldwin (2:06.13) placed seventh and eighth in that event.
Gardner-Webb University is located in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Its men’s and women’s teams compete in the CCSA, a conference jointly founded by various southeastern conferences such as the Atlantic Sun, the Mid-Eastern Athletic, and Southern Conferences. The men’s team won their first CCSA title last year, having finished second the year prior. They broke the University of the Incarnate Word’s three-year winning streak.
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