By: Jake Renie, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
BARBOURVILLE, Ky. – Less than 24 hours since they last competed, the Centre swimming & diving teams suited up for a second-consecutive day of competition, this time against Union. The Colonels had an excellent set of performances from both the men and the women, winning on both sides to complete a perfect weekend.
Freshman
Dustin Niebauer won a team-high three event wins, two coming from relays and an individual victory alongside it. Niebauer's solo win came from the men's 200 IM, touching the wall on a 2:02.68 time. The Marion, Va., native's relay win came way of the 200 medley relay (1:40.86) and the 400 free relay (3:20.77).
The women had five different student-athletes across the lineup that earned multiple wins on Saturday,
Greer Manger and
Natalie Cox being two to garner one in individual events during the meet. Manger's outdid the second-place finisher in the women's 500 free by a little less than two seconds, her 5:25.99 victory can be credited to a middle-100 split that was 1.35 seconds faster than her competitor. Cox's victory came right before it in the women's 100 free, the freshman performing right next to her season-best time in the event by finishing on a :56.87 final time.
Sam Feingold also emerged as a multi-event winner in the duel meet on Saturday, beating out the field in the men's 100 breastroke and finishing just .1 seconds off his fastest time so far this season.
Jackson Fears also joined him as a sophomore multi-event winner, claiming the title in the men's 100 free as the only student-athlete with a sub-50 second swim in the event (:49.51).
There were several incredibly tight races at Union, including the women's 200 free relay. The A and C-relays battled out front to start, the only two opening legs in the heat to swim a sub-26 split. After the A-relay was ahead by over a second, Manger in the C relay swam the fastest split third leg of the heat to surge back ahead to claim the lead late.
Allison Carr held strong and outdid her opponent by .16 seconds in the anchor split, the team along with
Elise Burch and
Olivia Headley combining for a 1:43.8 final time.
The men also hosted a tight 400 free relay, the difference between first and second being less than a half second. After the A-relay got off to a fast start on a :49.35 split, Niebauer took over the lead with a second leg that tallied a :48.68 split for the C-relay.
Calvin Mar battled it out and snatched back the lead on the third leg for the A-relay in his sub-50 second split (:49.58), but
Zolon Knoll would come home as the C-relay's anchor leg to win out and bring him, Niebauer,
Henry Lang and
Ben Wafford to a 3:20.77 winning time.
The Colonels will have one more meet before the Southern Atheltic Association Championships next month, the final meet being Senior Night in Boles Natatorium. That meet is scheduled for Saturday, January 28 and will kick off at 11 a.m. ET.
