By: Jake Renie, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
DANVILLE, Ky. – The Centre swimming and diving teams competed in their first meet in Boles Natatorium on Saturday afternoon for the 2022-23 season, hosting the Sewanee Tigers. The Colonel divers made their first appearance of the season in the meet, the men's team earning their first NCAA qualifying standard of the season. Both teams would garner wins on the day, the women posting a 157-82 final score while the men tallied a whopping 191-35 total.
The Gold and White's diving teams stole the show on Saturday, freshman
Brandon Anderson earning his invite to the upcoming 2022-23 NCAA Division III Regional Swimming & Diving Championships in March in his first collegiate competition. The Louisville, Ky., native totaled a 291.52-point final score on the men's one-meter, six-dive event, eclipsing the NCAA automatic qualifying mark by over 16 points in the event. Anderson would win that and they one-meter, five-dive event as well, posting a 189.45 final total. The women's team would put up a valiant fight with the Tigers' divers,
Haley Rice stepping on the board for the first time since coming to Centre, calling second by less than three points in the women's one-meter, six-dive list on a 183.83 final score. The dual-sport student-athlete will also have a strong second-place performance in the one-meter, five-dive event, Rice totaling 134.03 points in the set.
Greer Manger would head the women's team with three event wins, the junior dropping almost six seconds from her entry time in the women's 1000 free for a 11:26.24 time. Manger also collected another individual win with a :54.66 final time in the 100 free, along with a team win in the 400 free relay next to
Elise Burch,
Caroline Lee and
Callie West. The quad would end the race and meet with a 3:41.73 final time.
Ben Wafford and
Kai Oddo would each swim for a pair of individual victories against Sewanee for the men's team, both also collecting a win in a relay as well. Wafford would edge out teammate
Carter Dilger in the men's 400 IM, the two ending as the top-two finishers in the event off a 4:30.92 and 4:32.85 final time. Wafford would dominate in a win in the men's 200 breast, his 12-second victory resulting from a 2:18.65 final time. The freshman tallied a win to kick off the meet with Dilger,
Dustin Niebauer and
Davis Pingleton, the squad totaling a 3:41.52 final time for a sevent-second win in the men's 400 medley relay.
Oddo would dominate his three wins through the backstroke and freestyle events on Saturday, the junior posting the quickest time in the men's 50 free. Oddo would win the event off a strong final seven yards, outtouching the second place Tigers swimmer by .04 seconds on a :22.21 final time. The Lexington, Ky., native's other freestyle way came way of the 400 free relay, the relay's final time of 3:20.36 consisting of the team of Oddo,
Wyatt Fulton,
Henry Lang and
Jackson Fears. Oddo's final win of the day was in the men's 200 back, the only student-athlete in the field to split his first 100 under a minute for a final time of 2:02.55.
The Colonels would also see success from the women's team in the 200 free, the Gold and White finishing a one-two punch to top the event. The top finishers in the event were the freshman duo of
Katelynn Stanczyk and
Olivia Headley, the two finishing on 2:02.22 and 2:04.45 final times, respectively. Lang would earn a win the men's 200 free soon after for another great swim, his 1:49.67 final time resulted in the senior being the only competitor in the race to have a sub-1:50 time.
The Colonels will look to keep up their momentum in their next home meet in two weeks, hosting the Berry Vikings at the Boles Natatorium on Saturday, Nov. 5. That dual meet will be the first of two in the weekend, the first race starting at 1 p.m. ET.
