FULL RESULTS HERE
Gardner-Webb hosted Davidson for GWU’s senior day, which also marked the final dual meet for both teams this season. In a hotly contested meet on both the men’s and women’s sides, with plenty of races coming down to the hundredths, the Davidson men came out on top, 145-117, while the Gardner-Webb women edged Davidson 138-124.
WOMEN’S MEET
While the Runnin’ Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb ended up on top in final scores, Davidson sophomore Elise Lankiewicz had the strongest showing of any swimmer on the women’s side, taking three events individually as well as contributing to a winning relay. Lankiewicz first won the 1000 free with a time of 10:17.33, well ahead of 2nd place finisher Lauren Oglesby of Gardner-Webb (10:26.17). The sophomore also won the 500 free (5:04.43), touching over eight seconds ahead of Oglseby again (5:12.80), and took home the victory in the 200 fly (2:07.20) by almost two seconds. Lankiewicz swam to a sub-24 split in the 200 free relay, clocking a 23.52 as the third leg to help propel the Wildcats to a victory. She was the fastest split in the field and the only swimmer to break 24 seconds.
Giorgie Graves was one of Gardner-Webb’s two double-winners, and she took both the 100 free (53.56) and the 100 fly (57.69). In the 100 free, the race came right down to the touch, as Graves would edge two Wildcats, Kassie Shannon (53.61) and Angie Healy (53.65). This was revenge of sorts for Graves, who had earlier dropped the 200 free to Healy, 1:56.06 to 1:56.28.
The other double winner for Garnder-Webb was Lili Toth, who took top honors in both the 100 backstroke and the 200 breaststroke. She won the 100 back by a landslide (57.14), over two seconds ahead of the next best competitor. The 200 breast was one of the many races that came down to the touch, and Toth was able to sneak past Wildcat Sara Coats, touching in 2:25.24 to Coats’ 2:25.39.
Davidson and Gardner-Webb each picked up a couple more individual wins here and there, but it was the Runnin’ Bulldogs who came out with the win in both teams’ final meet on GWU’s senior day.
MEN’S MEET
The Davidson men locked up both relays, as well as each of the backstroke and breaststroke races, en route to a win over Gardner-Webb. The double-winner for the Wildcats was Luke Burton, who took the 100 backstroke (50.30) as well as the 200 backstroke (1:48.38), winning the latter by almost three seconds.
Spencer Gill and Grant Smith got things done in the breaststrokes. Gill touched first in the 100 (57.98) with Smith right behind him (58.54) as the two were the only swimmers to break the minute mark. Taylor Willenbring was third for the Wildcats in 1:00.79, rounding out a 1-2-3 sweep. Gill and Smith flip-flopped in the 200 breast, as Smith took the big win in 2:06.71 over Gill (2:08.52).
In the sprint freestyles, Davidson rolled on, picking up wins in the 50 with Cameron Bard (21.79) and 100 with Brandon Kegley (47.78). Riley League put together a strong 200 fly for another Wildcat win (1:57.25), taking the event by over a full second.
GWU had some top finishes of their own, notching two double-winners on the day. Luke Denman took both the 500 free (4:40.79) and the 1000 free (9:43.01). He won the 1000 by six seconds, but only topped Clay Resweber of Davidson by six hundredths in the 500. Nathan Lile took both the 200 IM (1:53.34) and the 200 free (1:43.12), but at the end of the meet, the Wildcats secured their win with a close win in the 200 free relay, touching in 1:25.12 to GWU’s 1:25.47.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Gardner-Webb has the CCSA Championships, while the Wildcats will face the Atlantic 10 conference in their first year after leaving the CCSA.