CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Queens University of Charlotte men's and women's swimming program honored their nine seniors — Balazs Berecz, Reece Gallagher, Foster Heasley, David Hjort, Andreas Marz, Yannick Plasil, Danielle Melilli, Eden Pescara, and Sophia Lange — in their record-breaking attended Senior Day tri-meet against Georgia Tech and Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Jan. 13. With fans meeting the Levine Aquatic Center's full capacity, the meet was eventually streamed on the Evans Video Board inside the facility.
On the day, the Royals won eight events against the top-25 ranked ACC team in Georgia Tech and ASUN foe in Gardner-Webb.
In the 200 yard medley relays to start the meet, the women's squad of Maren Patterson, Annika Huber, Maddie Foster, and Danielle Melilli took home an early first-place win with a time of 1:42.66.
Sophia Lange would take two solid swims on her senior day with a first-place swim of 10:20.94 in the 1000 yard free and a second-place swim of 5:04.41 in the women's 500 yard freestyle.
The Royals would next find their way on the podium with a second-place finish in the women's 200 yard freestyle, as Abigail Zboran swam a time of 1:51.68. Other podium finishes before the first break included Daniel Meszaros for third-place in the 200 yard freestyle (1:38.87), Patterson with second-place in the women's 100 yard backstroke (56.38), Huber with a second-place finish in the women's 100 yard breaststroke (1:03.77) and senior Andreas Marz with a time of 49.45 in the men's 100 yard backstroke.
Noah Beladi would next swim a winning time of 55.95 in the men's 100 yard breaststroke for Queens, while rookie swimmer Zboran swam a 2:04.46, good for second place in the women's 200 yard butterfly event. Zboran would snag another second-place showing in the women's 200 yard IM with a time of 2:05.31.
The 50- and 100- yard freestyle standouts — Melilli and Matej Dusa — soon came out victorious in their events. Senior Melilli snagged a 23.04 in her 50 while Dusa took home a 19.84 finish in his 50. Melilli (50.91) and Dusa (43.65) also came out with wins under their belt in the 100 yard freestyle events.
Queens whipped up multiple more second- and third-place finishes in later events — Haley Ross in the women's 200 yard backstroke (2:02.95), Marz (1:47.47) and Caden Fritz (1:48.43) in the men's 200 yard backstroke, Huber (2:18.63) and Berecz (2:02.96) in the 200 yard breaststroke events, Foster (56.33) in her 100 yard butterfly event, Conner Wang (49.49) and Plasil (49.65) in the men's 100 yard butterfly, and Berecz (1:51.44) in the men's 200 yard IM.
Finishing out the meet, the Royals went out with a bang with impressive showings in the 200 yard freestyle relay events. The women took home a time of 1:33.96 (Melilli, Ryley Heck, Patterson, Foster) good for second place, while the men took home the one-two finish with times of 1:19.83 (Dusa, Meszaros, Nien Levy, Wang) and 1:21.60 (Jackson Vineyard, Fritz, Stamatis Paleocrassas, Jonathan Henschel).
REMARKS FROM COACH LAU
"Our seniors truly shined in this day against ACC and ASUN competition," Senior Associate Head Coach Jon Lau said. "They led the way as they have the last four years. Our underclassmen also stepped up, showing our depth as we look ahead to the championship phase of the season. There are big things ahead."
To read the senior day recognition speeches from today's meet, click here.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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