CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte swimming teams turned in several strong performances in a home dual against Wingate on Friday afternoon at the Levine Aquatic Center, collecting a number of top-three finishes throughout the meet. The Royals fell by a final score of 132-130 on the men's side, and by an identical 132-130 margin on the women's side.
"I love the fact that Wingate brought their best for us this afternoon, and our team fought hard with lots of good individual efforts," Director of Swimming Jeff Dugdale said. "However, as a team, we fell short by a couple of points, both men's and women's teams. Still, I appreciated that we can walk away with many lessons and enjoy the rivalry with Wingate."
On the women's side, the Royals opened with a win in the 200-yard medley relay, as the team of Maren Patterson, Libby Livesay, Abigail Zboran, and Madeline Foster touched first in 1:43.34. The Queens "B" relay of Zoey Prezyna, Annika Huber, Mary Shanahan, and Sophia Pfannstiel finished third in 1:47.58. In the distance events, Leonie Tenzer placed second in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:43.57, and later added a third-place finish in the 500 free in 5:12.51. Bianca Wettel earned third in the 200 freestyle at 1:57.14.
In the backstroke events, Maren Patterson picked up a win in the 100 back (56.56), while Haley Ross claimed first in the 200 back (2:03.98). Annika Huber and Libby Livesay each placed on the podium in the breaststroke events, with Huber finishing second in the 100 breast (1:05.06) and first in the 200 breast (2:23.42), and Livesay taking third in both races (1:06.25 / 2:26.49). Abigail Zboran captured a victory in the 200 butterfly (2:04.01), and Madeline Foster added a win in the 100 fly (56.13) along with a runner-up finish in the 50 freestyle (24.18). Patterson added another first-place finish in the 100 free, touching in 52.57.
On the men's side, Queens started strong with a victory in the 200 medley relay. The quartet of Pablo Ortega Navarro, Cal Bartone, Emil Harlem, and Nien Levy clocked a winning time of 1:28.48, while the "B" relay of Caden Fritz, Filip Urbanski, Brett Bailey, and Stamatis Paleocrassas placed third in 1:31.07. In the distance events, freshman Akos Horvath took third in the 1000 freestyle (9:40.04). Daniel Meszaros led the Royals in the mid-distance races, placing third in the 200 free (1:40.57) before winning the 100 free (44.95).
Caden Fritz swept the backstroke events, taking first in both the 100 back (49.11) and 200 back (1:48.61), while Eli Brinkman added a third-place finish in the 100 back (49.90). In the breaststroke races, Bartone and Milan Samoczi finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 breast (56.16 / 56.53), and Matheus Przewalla and Samoczi took second and third in the 200 breast (2:04.44 / 2:05.14). Matt Shanahan picked up a win in the 200 butterfly (1:52.37), with teammate Nick Karaivanov finishing second (1:53.76). Emil Harlem earned a runner-up finish in the 100 fly (49.67), while Levy and Paleocrassas took first and second, respectively, in the 50 free sprint (20.27 / 20.43).
UP NEXT
Queens will be back in action tomorrow, Oct. 18 for a home meet against Catawba.
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