COLUMBIA S.C. – In their final preparation meet for the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships, the Queens University of Charlotte swim teams participated in a tri-meet with two Division I institutions, University of South Carolina and Duke University. The women fell 254-39 to the Gamecocks and 220-53 to the Blue Devils, while the men lost 222-66 to USC and 232-61 to Duke.
Alex Menke (Fayetteville, Ga., Whitewater ) shaved time off of his 1000-yard freestyle time finishing in 9:33.72 for fourth place. The men's 200-yard medley relay team also cut time off finishing in third at 1:32.09.
John Long (Jacksonville, Fla., Bishop Kenny) took second in the 50-yard free and the 100-yard free with times of 20.59 and 45.60, respectively. The men's 400-yard relay team took third tapping in at 3:05.38.
The women had two top-five finishes with the first coming in the 200-yard medley relay.
Kristin Diemer (Oak Ridge, N.C., Northwest Guilford),
Emma Durante (Akron, Ohio, Firestone),
Madeleine Wallmon (Danderyd, Stockholm, Sweden, Viktor Ryderg Gymnasium) and
Lillian Gordy (Winston-Salem. N.C., Reagan) completed the race in 1:50.8. Gordy then took fifth in the 200-yard freestyle racing in at 1:55.48.
Queens is currently ranked 16
th in the nation in women's swimming and 12
th in the land in men's swimming at the Division II level.
The Royals will return to competition at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships, which will take place February 15-18 at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center.
