ATHENS, GA. – The Gardner-Webb 200 Free Relay team electrified night two of the 2016 CCSA Championships winning the event with a new School Record time, while senior Nathan Lile tabbed an individual win in the 50 Free.
Gardner-Webb as a team currently sits in fourth-place overall after the two evenings of finals results with a total score of 394 points.
The 200 Free Team consisted of Lile (19.54), Connor Bos (19.93), Tyler Gomez (20.13), and Hal McKay (20.47) as the anchor all four combined efforts to swim the event in a time of 1:20.07 setting a new School Record by sixth-tenths of a second, and just one second off of the pace of the Meet Record.
Lile continued to preform at a high level individually this evening coming in first in the 50 Free with a quick time of 19.93. Just behind Lile was the junior Bos who took home fifth-place in the event from a time of 20.49.
For the 50 Free B-Final Gardner-Webb swimmers McKay (20.95) and Andrew Linzie (21.36) competed well in the event as they finished fourth and eighth respectively in the heat.
Freshman Jake Ennis was the lone competitor in the 50 Free C-Final as he finished second in the heat going 21.35 and earning solid points for the Runnin' Bulldogs.
The men's team compiled a new School Record set by sophomore Mason Hutchinson who swam the 500 Free in a time of 4:30.95 beating the old record by two whole seconds. Freshman Peter Wakeley also swam in the final of the event timing in at 4:36.48 good enough for eighth-place.
In the B-Final of the 500 Free GWU also swam well with Luke Denman taking third-place in that heat with a time of 4:35.98 and Joshua Clarke taking sixth overall in the event with a swim of 4:38.27.
For the 200 IM Gardner-Webb had three swimmers in the B-Final as Cameron Pou took home third-place in the heat from a time of 1:52.35, next to finish was Tyler Gomez in sixth with a time of 1:53.00 flat, while Andrew Knudsen finished in seventh overall from a time of 1:53.20.
GWU had three swimmers in the 200 IM C-Final with Austin Toney (1:53.20) taking fifth-place, Manny Avila (1:53.70) finishing in seventh, and Fred Simons IV (1:54.20) placing eighth.
Head Coach Mike Simpson had these remarks about tonight,
"The first event really set the tone for the evening. We raced really well and came from behind in a lot of swims. A huge congratulations to Mason breaking the School Record great to see that quality from him. Another come from behind was Cameron and races like that really get the team pumped up. The result for the 50 Free tonight is not exactly what we expected, but in indirect way it worked in our favor for a wonderful finish in the 200 Free Relay from all the guys on the team. It is always a great way to finish the night with a realay win."
The men's team will continue to build on their solid performances over the past two days tomorrow morning as preliminaries begin again at 10 a.m. on the campus of the University of Georgia with finals to follow in the evening at 6:00 p.m.
Standings After Day 2:
1. University of the Incarnate Word- 548
2. UMBC Swim & Dive - 529
3. Old Dominion University - 524.50
4. Gardner-Webb University - 394
5. Florida Atlantic University - 345
6. New Jersey Institute of Technology - 219.50
7. Howard University- 154
8. Virginia Military Institute- 134
