Queens’ swimming teams dominate in early season

Queens’ men’s and women’s swimming teams began their 2016 schedule with near-dominating wins over South Atlantic Conference rival Lenoir-Rhyne in a Senior Day meet Jan. 9.

The Royals – the defending NCAA Division II men’s and women’s national champions – posted the top time in every event in both the men’s and women’s meets at the Levine Center pool.

During the meet, Queens’ swimmers posted two pool-record times, as well as set 10 NCAA “B” Standard cut times.

For the Royals’ men’s team, Spain’s Hector Tricas posted top time in three events, with Ben Taylor and Ukraine’s Rostyslav Fedyna doing so in two events.

Tricas had top time in the men’s 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly; Taylor in the men’s 100- and 200-yard backstroke, and Fedyna in the men’s 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke.

Other top event times were posted by Parker Cook-Weeks (men’s 200-yard freestyle), Spain’s Inigo Alarcia (men’s 100-yard breaststroke), Ben Mayes (men’s 100-yard freestyle), Brazil’s Felipe de Oliveira (men’s 100-yard butterfly), and Nick Arakelian (men’s 200-yard individual medley).

For Queens’ women, three swimmers – Hannah Peiffer, Kyrie Dobson and Carolina Arakelian – posted top times in two events each.

Peiffer had best times in the women’s 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly, Dobson had them in the women’s 50 and 100 freestyle, and Arakelian in the women’s 200 backstroke and 500 freestyle.

Other top times were posted by Nikki Johnson (women’s 1,000 freestyle), Hannah Craig (women’s 200 freestyle), Shelly Prayson (women’s 100 breaststroke), McKenzie Stevens (women’s 200 butterfly), Hayley Blaauw (women’s 200 breaststroke), and Spain’s Patricia Castro-Ortega (women’s 200 individual medley).

Royals’ run ends

Queens’ men’s basketball team saw its undefeated start to the 2015-2016 season come to an end Jan. 9 with an 86-76 loss to South Atlantic Conference rival Lincoln Memorial in Harrogate, Tenn.

Sean Morgan scored 21 points and pulled down nine rebounds, and Daniel Camps added 14 points for the Royals (12-1, 6-1), who entered the game ranked No. 8 in the latest NCAA Division II coaches poll.

While the two teams had nearly-identical shooting numbers – Queens shot 45.2 percent from the field, Lincoln Memorial 45.5 percent – the difference came from the Railsplitters’ 3-point shooting, and the Royals’ turnovers.

Lincoln Memorial made 11 of 21 on 3-pointers, a 52.4-percent clip, while Queens made just 6 of 22 (27.3 percent). In addition, the Royals committed 16 turnovers, leading to 27 points.

Prayson earns award

Queens’ women’s swimmer Shelly Prayson was named the Bluegrass Mountain Conference’s swimmer of the week after her performance at the Lenoir-Rhyne meet.

It was the first weekly conference award for Prayson, who shared the award with Savannah College of Art and Design men’s swimmer Joel Ax.

At the Lenoir-Rhyne meet, Prayson won the women’s 100-yard breaststroke in 1 minute, 5.40 seconds; and came in second in the women’s 100-yard freestyle in 52.99 seconds.

Prayson then contributed to a pair of top times in relay events. She swam the second leg in the women’s 200-yard medley relay, and the anchor leg in the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay.

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Queens’ swimming teams dominate in early season."