Swimming & Diving Off To Strong Start at All-NC Invite

Meredith Nakano competed in a pair of relays Friday

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Swimming & Diving Off To Strong Start at All-NC Invite

10/3/2014 10:06:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

By: Mark Brumbaugh

Session I Results

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Davidson men's and women's swimming & diving teams both sit third after the first session of competition in the season-opening All-NC Invitational, hosted by NC State in the Greensboro Aquatics Center Friday evening.

Sophomore Elise Lankiewicz posted the top Davidson finish, taking third behind a pair of NC State swimmers in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:59.20, while freshman Elizabeth Weldon rounded out the Top 10 in the event in her debut in 5:11.34.

The Wildcat women earned two additional top-five finishes, as Karen Monuszko led three Davidson divers in the 1-meter dive with a fifth-place finish, scoring 207.68, and Erica Clancy, Meredith Nakano, Kassie Shannon and Angie Healy teamed up in the 200-yard freestyle relay to place fifth in 1:37.97.

Shannon then paced Davidson in the 50 free, touching the wall in 24.68 seconds to place ninth. Four 'Cats placed in the Top 15, as Clancy (24.80), Lauren Malachowski (24.82) and Healy (24.88) placed 13th, 14th and 15th, respectively.

The women's session concluded with the 400-yard medley relay, which Healy, Katy Williams, Lankiewicz and Nakano led with a seventh-place finish in 3:58.20.

The Wildcat men saw their top finishes come in the relays, as Cameron Bard, Ari Snyder, Brandon Kegley and Luke Burton opened the session with a fifth-place finish in the 200 free in 1:25.32. Burton, Spencer Gill, Bard and Kegley then concluded the session with a sixth-place finish in 3:30.30 to lead the 'Cats in the 400 medley.

In between, three earned top-10 finishes in the 500-yard freestyle, led by Dylan Ludwick in seventh in 4:44.04. He was followed by a pair of freshmen in eighth and ninth, respectively: Clay Resweber (4:45.66) and Cole Riggan (4:45.95).

Grant Smith paced the men in the 200 individual medley with an eighth-place finish in 1:55.93. Bard also earned an eighth placing, doing so in the 50 free in 21.30 seconds. Burton followed in 12th in 21.74.

"We swam well tonight," said head coach John Young. "We had some great debuts by freshmen and some solid performances relative to this point in the season last year, so overall it was a good session. Hopefully we have two more."

The meet will conclude with two more sessions Saturday, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

NC State and East Carolina currently rank first and second, respectively, in both the men's and women's standings. The host Wolfpack accrued 557 points on the men's side and and 524 on the women's, while East Carolina totaled 487 and 499, respectively. Davidson trails with 382 points for the men and 404 or the women. Fourth-place Gardner-Webb was the only other school to surpass 300 points, totaling 315 on the men's side and 340 on the women's.