By: Jake Renie, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications
DANVILLE, Ky. - After sweeping Senior Day last weekend, the Colonel swimming & diving teams geared up for their final home stand of the season against the Union Bulldogs on Thursday Night in the Boles Natatorium. The Centre teams switched up their lineup for the event, continuing to prepare for the 2022 SAA Swimming & Diving Conference Championships in about three weeks.Head coach Dean Brownley and co. took down a pair of pool records during the competition, one on the women's side and the other on the men's. The Colonels would sweep the Bulldogs in the final score, the men winning 135-77 and the women totaling 173-14.
The highlights of the night came towards the first half the meet, freshman Callie West was the first of the two student-athletes to create history on Thursday night, taking down a two-year old pool record by over a second on a 2:11.63 time. West's race provided a strong finish, being the only swimmer in the field to have a final 50 split under 30 seconds. The second pool record to fall was done by Kai Oddo, the sophomore's :47.26 time in the men's 100 free tore down the 2009 record set by Centre alumni Jimmy Tatgenhorst. Oddo's swim not only broke the pool record, but beat the rest of the field in over two and a half seconds.
Overall, the Centre teams emerged victorious in 17 of the 23 events that the two programs competed in Thursday night, the women claiming every event throughout the meet. Claire Pellegrin was the only individual on the women's side to win multiple individual events in the meet, claiming back-to-back individual races for the women in the 50 free (:26.08) and the 100 fly (1:02.82). Kaden Gervacio took the win in the men's one-meter diving, the senior from Hustonville, Ky. scoring a personal best 212.55 points in his six dives, an almost 12-point improvement. Austen Reid was the only other Colonel on the men's side to claim an individual award, his :56.69 100 fly time containing the best back-half split of any individual in the field (a :29.71 time).
Centre's relays proved to be a strong point in Thursday night's competition, the Colonels winning all six relay races between the men and the women. The women's 200 free relay team was just shy of shattering another pool record, the squad of Mrunali Damuluri, Madhu Gunasena, Emily Preston and Sophia Fogle combining for a 1:40.84 time in the event, the only relay to swim the event in under two minutes. The men were able to close out the meet with a victory in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:21.21, just beating out the Union squad by a second and a half margin. That relay team consisted of Kai Oddo, Henry Lang, Jackson Fears and Zolon Knoll.
The Colonel swimming & diving team will get a short rest before they hit the road on Saturday, taking on the Asbury Eagles in Wilmore, Ky. That meet is scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. ET, and will be the final dual meet of the season before the SAA Conference Championships in mid-February.
