Emory & Henry Women’s Swimming Takes Fifth At ODAC Relays Saturday

Female swimmer swimming freestyle
-photo courtesy of Kylie Lang

LEXINGTON, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Men's & Women's Swimming Teams were back in action on Saturday afternoon at the ODAC Relays. Hosted by Washington and Lee University, the event serves as the unofficial start to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference swimming season.

On the women's side, the Wasps finished in fifth place out of 12 competing teams. The Wasp men took seventh out of 10 teams.

The Basics
MEN'S RESULT – 7th/10
WOMEN'S RESULT – 5th/12
LOCATION – Lexington, Virginia
VENUE – W&L Natatorium

The Format
- As a relay-only meet, one of the main goals is to build team chemistry early in the season.
- Only three of the 10 events are NCAA sanctioned, so coaches have the opportunity to focus on technique and transitions in a competitive setting without missing an opportunity to put up a best time.

The Women
- The Wasps put up a time of 1:28.82 in the 150-yard butterfly (seventh), a 1:37.86 in the 150-yard backstroke (10th) and a 1:44.00 in the 150-yard breaststroke (sixth).
- In the 400-yard freestyle relay (one of the official NCAA events) the group of juniors Olivia Anson (Apex, N.C.) and Savannah Scarbrough (Crozet, Va.) and freshmen Anne-Louise Tunstall (Mount Airy, N.C.) and Cat Sweigart (Bridgewater, Va.) swam a 3:56.89 to finish fifth.
- Emory & Henry took ninth in the "crescendo" relay with a time of 5:17.15 and went 3:30.52 in the 3x100-yard individual medley for ninth-place finishes.
- The team of freshman Leah Mumpower (Bristol, Va.), Sweigart, Tunstall and junior Taylor Simmons (Fincastle, Va.) took 11th in the 200-yard medley relay with a swim of 2:09.03.
- In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Anson, Sweigart, Simmons and Tunstall went 1:49.84 to finish seventh.

The Men
- Emory & Henry finished 13th (1:24.14) in the 150-yard butterfly, ninth (1:27.11) in the 150-yard backstroke and 13th (1:45.91) in the 150-yard breaststroke.
- The Wasps took 13th in the 400-free relay on the efforts of freshmen Braxton Justice (Spanishburg, W.Va.), Mack Henningsen (Abingdon, Va.), Blake Madaris (Acworth, Ga.) and Tariq Gardner (Richmond, Va.).
- In the "crescendo" relay, E&H was ninth in 4:51.90 and posted a 13th-place finish in the 3x100-yard individual medley (3:28.51).
- Madaris, freshman Ethan Wine (Watauga, Tenn.), freshman Nick Moore (Lebanon, Va.) and junior Jarod Bracero (Union City, N.J.) were 14th in the 200-yard medley relay with a swim of 2:05.95.
- The Wasps put up a time of 1:39.43 in the 200-yard freestyle relay on the efforts of Gardner, Henningsen, Wine and Justice.
- The final event was the 8x25-freestyle which saw the Wasps go 1:36.50 for eighth place.

Up Next
- Emory & Henry will host Milligan College and the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in a double dual meet on Saturday, November 3.
- The first event is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.

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