BRISTOL, TENN. – It was an exciting first day in the pool for the Converse University swim teams. The men's team currently leads the championships with 119 points, while the women's team sits in third place with 76 points.
The first event of the evening was the women's 1000 yard free event, Converse freshman swimmer
Valerie Perez (Rock Hill, S.C.) placed ninth overall with a time of 11:15.30 and junior
Kaitlin Williams (Sharpsburg, Ga.) finished right behind in 10
th place with a time of 11:23.96.
Reigning Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year
Henry Stockton (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won the 1000 free event with a time of 9:36.48. Stockton beat out his closest competitor by one second to claim the championship.
Freshman
Mason Reed (Woodstock, Ga.) placed seventh overall in the 1000 free event with a time of 9:54.79 and junior
Micah Lesley (Belton, S.C.) finished ninth with a time of 9:59.36. Sophomore
Davis Dial (Seneca, S.C.) placed 13
th overall in the event with a time of 10:29.46 and
Kirill Lyzhin (Kingwood, Texas) finished 15
th overall with a time of 10:36.06.
In the women's 200 yard medley relay event, the Valkyries A team of
Mayle Iwanski (Evans, Ga.),
Ember Hill (Salida, Colo.),
Maya Guevara (Long Beach, Calif.) and
Kayla Smith finished fourth overall with a time of 1:48.90.
In the men's 200 yard medley relay event, the Valkyries A team of
Jay Owens (Central, S.C.),
Tyler Leal (Augusta, Ga.),
Louis Milczynski (Montauban, France) and
Joey Lilley (Greer, S.C.) won the event with a time of 1:30.85. The relay team just edged out both King and Emmanuel by one second. Last season, the Valkyries finished second in this event, missing the gold medal by just six one tenths of a second.
In the women's 800 free relay event, the Valkyries A team of Iwanski,
Alison Ludeman (Myrtle Beach, S.C.),
Juli Ganim (Savoca, Sicilia, Italy) and Perez finished fourth overall with a time of 8:09.66.
In the final event of the evening, the Valkyries A relay team of Stockton, Lesley,
Daniel Merzthal (Lima, Peru) and Lilley finished third overall in the 800 free relay event. The Valkyries clocked a time of 6:57.24, beating out both Emmanuel and Chowan.
The Converse swim teams will be in action today with the preliminary rounds of the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free events this morning and the finals for each event coming this evening.
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