Emory & Henry Women’s Swimming Wins Swimming Portion Of Third Annual Transylvania Invitational

Emory & Henry Women’s Swimming Wins Swimming Portion Of Third Annual Transylvania Invitational

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Emory & Henry College Women's Swimming Team picked up five event wins on Sunday en route to a first-place finish in the swimming portion of the Third Annual Transylvania Invitational. The meet, which marks the midway point of the season for the Wasps, was held at the Lancaster Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Kentucky.

Emory & Henry (617.5 points) finished 15.5 points ahead of second-place Wittenberg University (592) while Rhodes College, the 2015 champion from the Southern Athletic Association, finished third (532).

The Wasps completed their clean sweep of the relay events, winning the 400-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays on Sunday. The 400-medley team of junior Jessica Richardson (Vero Beach, Fla.), junior Michaela Nolte (Hillsborough, N.C.), freshman Claire Goodrum (Versailles, Ky.) and sophomore Mackenzie Lingle (Roanoke, Va.) posted a time of 3:57.24 to win the event by 2.7 seconds. The 400-yard freestyle relay saw Lingle, Goodrum, Richardson and Nolte poste a winning time of 3:34.08 to finish first by 1.37 seconds.

Nolte completed the weekend with a pair of individual wins in the 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard breaststroke. The reigning ODAC Champion in both events went :24.29 in the 50-free and posted a time of 2:22.96 in the 200-breast to achieve a NCAA "B" Qualifying Standard.

Goodrum won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of :58.72, setting a new E&H record in the event for the second time on the day. Her swim of :59.08 in the preliminaries also topped the previous program best.

Richardson was second in the 50-yard freestyle (:24.53) and was third in the 200-free (1:57.37). Sophomore Marina Moore (Thomasville, N.C.) and freshman Adaira Brewer (Raleigh, N.C.) gave the Wasps four top-eight finishers in the 50-freestyle.

In the 400-yard individual medley, senior Taylor Guardalabene (Charlotte, N.C.) went 4:44.26 to finish fourth and added a fifth-place finish in the 1650-yard free (18:27.65). Moore was third in the 100-yard backstroke, swimming a 1:00.04. Sophomore Holly Roth (Albuquerque, N.M.) finished fourth in the 200-free (1:59.45), Lingle was fourth in the 100-yard butterfly (:59.68) and sophomore Brianna Chessock (Winston-Salem, N.C.) was fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:30.99).

Emory & Henry will next compete on Saturday, January 16 when it hosts Carson-Newman University and King (Tenn.) University at the E&H Aquatics Center. The meet is scheduled to begin at noon.

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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15