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 Link: https://www.meridix.com/live.php?liveid=Sportsgram1
Official Championship Page: https://scacsports.prestosports.com/tournament/winter/swimming/23championships/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 finished fourth in last season's event while the Gents placed seventh.
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 200 Free Relay followed by the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free. The finals of those for events will be held at 6 p.m.
Friday's schedule begins with prelims at 10:30 a.m. for the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, and 100 back. Following a 20-minute break, the 400 Medley Relay will occur followed by men's and women's diving competitions. 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/23championships/SCAC_Swimming_Championships_-_Schedule.pdf
The Maroon and White recorded six individual wins and six runner-up finishes in their most recent action back on Jan. 21 at home against Austin College in a conference dual meet on Senior Day. Several Ladies and Gents swam season-best times.
Sophomore Madeline Vacula (Belton, Texas) earned a pair of individual wins, posting season-best times in each, and was part of the Ladies' winning team on the 200 medley relay. Senior Camryn Hebert (Youngsville, La.), and senior Bryn Jenkins (Houston, Texas) each recorded an individual win and freshman Jameson Feeney (Shreveport, La.) led the way for the Gents with a win and a runner-up finish.
Vacula, who now owns 16 wins this season and 23 in her young career, won the 100 back in a time of 1:03.98 and claimed victory in the 200 free in a time of 2:01.37. Hebert won the 100 free in a season-best time of 1:00.85 and Jenkins swam the 50 back in her fastest time of the season (31.79). Hebert also finishes third in the 50 back (33.74) and Jenkins earned a runner-up finish in the 100 back (1:08.54) behind Vacula.
Feeney swam a pair of season-best time as he won the 50 breast (32.60) and was second in the 200 IM (2:21.40). Junior Antonio Barbee (Plaquemine, La.) finished as runner-up in the 100 fly in a season-best time of 56.88 and third in the 100 free with another season-fastest time of 53.69. Junior Aiden Peterkin (Zachary, La.) finished second in the 200 free with a new season-best time of 2:01.30 and fourth in the 100 free in another season-best time (54.86). Barbee now has six runner-up finishes, 13 top-five finishes, and 16 Top 10s this season.
Senior Christine Goodman (Alexandria, La.) swam a season-best time of 34.51 to finish second in the 50 breast and earned another runner up in the 100 breast in another season-best time (1:16.20). Senior Katie Malicoat (Wichita, Kan.) finished third in both the 50 breast (36.78) and the 100 breast (1:20.21). Junior Anacelia Galeano Balam (Baton Rouge, La.) swam a season-best time of 1:07.95 to earn a runner-up finish in the 100 fly and also finished third in the 50 fly in a season-best time of 30.14.
Freshman Adriana de la Fuente (Baton Rouge, La.) earned a pair of top-five finishes as she was fourth in the 100 breast with a season-best time of 1:34.81 and fifth in the 100 free with another season-best time (1:12.55). Sophomore Nathaniel Batiste Jr. (Vacherie, La.) made his season debut and made an immediate impact as she won the 100 breast in a time of 1:14.57 and also finished fifth in the 100 free (1:00.73).
Senior Isabella Brown (Metairie, La.) made her season debut and finished fourth in the 50 breast (36.90) and fifth in the 50 free (29.01) and freshman Emma Allsopp (Belfast, Northern Ireland) earned a trio of top-10 finishes highlighted by season-best time in all three events. She finished fourth in the 100 free with a season-best time of 1:07.64, sixth in the 50 breast (41.23), and seventh in the 50 free (30.43).
The Ladies' foursome of Galeano-Balam, Goodman, Jenkins, and Vacula won the 200-medley relay in a time of 2:02.08 and the Gents' team comprised of Batiste, Barbee, Feeney, and Peterkin placed third as they swam a time of 1:54.87.
Vacula earned two top-four finishes and a trio of top-10 finishes at last season's championships to earn all-SCAC honors and highlight the Ladies' efforts. She swam a time of 17:56.27 to finish third in the 1650 Yard Freestyle Championship Final (second-fastest time in school history), placed fourth in the finals of the 200 back (2:12.17 – seventh-fastest time in school history), and sixth in the 500 free finals in a time of 5:14.84 – the sixth-fastest time in the event in school history.
Her time at the 1,000 split (10:51.54) in the 1650 is the fourth-fastest 1,000 time in school history. On the men's side, Barbee had an impressive showing last season in Garland, which was capped by a 10th-place finish in the 200-fly consolation final (2:02.74).
The Gents' best finish at the event is third, accomplished three times – during the 2012-13 season and in the 2014-15 & 2015-16 seasons. The Ladies' best finish was also third in 2012-13.
See the complete Ladies and Gents' season schedules below:
Gents: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mswim/2022-23/schedule
Ladies: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/wswim/2022-23/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests.
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