Garland, Texas - The Centenary swimming teams are set for the annual Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships, beginning on Wednesday and concluding on Saturday at the Garland ISD Natatorium.
Live Video: https://www.meridix.com/live.php?liveid=Sportsgram1
Official Championship Page: https://scacsports.prestosports.com/tournament/winter/swimming/24championships/index
The Ladies and Gents will be joined by Austin College, Colorado College, McMurry University, University of the Ozarks, Southwestern University and Trinity University for the four-day event. The Ladies and Gents each finished seventh at the SCAC Championships last season.
Wednesday's schedule features the 200 Medley Relay followed by the 800 Free Relay, both set for 5 p.m. Competition begins at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday with the prelims of the 500 Freestyle followed by the 200 IM, then the 50 free and finishes with the 400 Medley Relay. The finals of those events will be held starting at 6 p.m.
Friday's schedule consists of prelims of the 200 Free Relay beginning at 10:30 a.m. followed by the 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 freestyle. 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, women's 3-Meter Diving, and Men's 1-Meter Diving – both at 12:30 p.m.
A special recognition of all the senior student-athletes is set for 5:45 p.m. on Friday followed by evening finals. Saturday's action begins at 10:30 a.m. and is followed by the finals at 6 p.m.
Complete schedule of events: https://scacsports.prestosports.com/tournament/winter/swimming/24championships/SCAC_Swimming_Championships_-_Schedule.pdf
Last Time Out:
In Centenary's most recent action on Jan. 21 at home, both the men and women finished second in their annual Senior Day meet by a combined team score of 207-176 to the Austin College 'Roos in a dual meet.
The Ladies picked up a 111-94 victory while the men fell 113-65. Centenary honored four swimmers during the meet - Anacelia Galeano-Balam (Baton Rouge, La.) Antonio Barbee (Plaquemine, La.), and Aiden Peterkin (Zachary, La.) as well as junior Madeline Vacula (Belton, Texas) who will be graduating early.
Centenary tallied 10 individual wins and the Ladies won the 200-yard medley relay. The Ladies claimed six wins and the Gents posted four. Austin College won 11 events and claimed wins in both the men's and women's 200 free relay and the men's 200-medley relay.
Barbee won the 200-yard butterfly as he swam a time of 2:09.12, Peterkin won the 200-yard freestyle (2:06.13), and Vacula claimed wins in the 100-yard backstroke (1:08.07) and the 1,000-yard freestyle (11:34.94).
Freshman Reece Esser (Huntsville, Texas) won the 100-yard butterfly (1:05.99) and teamed with Galeano-Balam, freshman Hannah Waddell (Shreveport, La.), and Vacula to win the 200-medley relay in a time of 2:03.63.
Waddell had a superb meet as she claimed three individual wins – in the 200-yard freestyle (2:06.58), 200-yard breaststroke (2:36.12), and in the 100-yard freestyle (59.36). Freshman Nick Gordon (Aurora, Colo.) picked up a pair of wins, swimming a time of 55.58 to win the 100-yard butterfly and winning the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 23.08.
Freshman Ubaldo Ayala (Hallsville, Texas) and sophomore Jameson Feeney (Shreveport, La.) teamed with Barbee and Gordon to finish second in the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:49.65. Ayala (1:11.90) and Feeney (1:12.12) placed third and fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke. Freshman Gunnar Durham (Lufkin, Texas) finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly (1:04.73) and Peterkin finished fifth (1:12.02). Feeney finished second in the 200 IM as he swam a time of 2:26.41.
Sophomore Adriana de la Fuente (Baton Rouge, La.) finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke (3:24.52) and fourth in the 100 backstroke as she swam time of 1:24.07, while freshman Kennadi St. Clair (Duncanville, Texas) and freshman Stacy Brown (Baytown, Texas) finished third and fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke as St. Clair swam a time of 1:29.67 and Brown in 1:33.24. Galeano-Balam earned runner-up finishes in both the 200-yard butterfly (2:35.63) and 100 fly (1:09.25) while freshman Cicely Jackson (Lafayette, La.) finished third in the 200 fly in a time of 2:51.55. Jackson was also third in the 100 fly in a time of 1:20.30.
The Ladies earned third, fourth, and fifth-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle as Brown was third in a time of 29.93, St. Clair was fourth (30.19), and freshman Sydney Welch (Moss Bluff, La.) placed fifth (31.97). Esser was runner-up in the 100 free (59.72) and Galeano-Balam finished fifth (1:05.52). Welch finished as runner-up in the 200 back (3:12.65).
Vacula earned a runner-up finish in the 200-yard IM (2:36.34) while Brown finished third in a time of 2:54.46. Ayala, Peterkin, and Feeney finished second through fourth in the 100 free as they swam times of 55.90, 57.90, and 100.65 respectively. Ayala, Feeney, Gordon, and Peterkin teamed to finish third in the 200-free relay, swimming a time of 1:38.99.
On Jan. 13 in the Austin College Invitational in Sherman, Texas, both the Ladies and Gents finished fourth as the Ladies earned 234 points while the Gents tallied 212. Centenary started off the 2024 calendar year at home against Millsaps College on Jan. 10 as the Maroon and White earned a victory by a combined team score of 231-207 in which the Ladies and Gents recorded an impressive 42 top 10's. The Gents earned 14 individual top-10 finishes and the Ladies had 10.
Vacula and Esser highlighted the effort on the women's side against Millsaps with three individual wins apiece, and Waddell and Galeano-Balam each picked up a pair of wins. Ayala, Barbee, and Gordon paced the men's side with two wins each.
Centenary's three seniors - Galeano-Balam, Barbee, and Peterkin, along with Vacula, who is graduating early and was honored along with that trio on Senior Day, have combined for an incredible 12 individual wins, 10 runner-up finishes, 42 top-five finishes, and 55 top 10's this season.
In the fall season, Centenary finished with 13 combined individual victories from both the Ladies and the Gents on Oct. 29 at Millsaps after also recording 13 on Oct. 13-14 in a pair of meets against McMurry University in Abilene, Texas.
Centenary started the season strong on Oct. 6 with a double dual meet against the University of Ozarks and Rhodes in Clarksville, Ark. as the Maroon and White combined for 18 individual top-five finishes and four runner-up finishes. The next day against Rhodes and Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., the Maroon and White recorded an impressive 26 top 10's, 13 top 5's, one runner-up finish, and one individual victory.
See the Ladies' complete season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/wswim/2023-24/schedule
See the Gents' complete season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mswim/2023-24/schedule
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