Results

Kingsport, TN – The third-ranked UC women's swimming & diving team opened the conference meet with a bang scoring 270 points to lead the team standings by 88 points.  The Patriots closed out the first day of competition with five wins and seven podium finishes Thursday night at the Kingsport Aquatic Center.

Cumberlands opened the finals with Anastasiia Shatalova, Hanne te Velthuis, Riley Cerqueira, and Rebecca Loftus teaming up in the 200 free relay.  The group pulled away from the field to clock a winning time of 1:37.18, which is a season-best time.

A trio of Patriots made the finals of the 500 free led by freshman Ali Pecore, who closed with 1:00.66 for her final 100 yards, and finished with a time of 5:07.73 to capture her first conference title.  Teammate Isabella Cooksey captured the bronze medal with a time of 5:09.21 to be ranked fifth the NAIA this season.  Leah Thomas notched a season-best time of 5:16.52 to place sixth, while Keyleigh Hagan and Liberty Poley went 5:26.35 and 5:27.32 to score points.

Carrying the momentum, UC turned to Maria Basto in the 200 IM where she recorded the fastest time in the country this season going a 2:07.92 to win the event by four seconds. Allison Lovell finished fifth after touching the wall in 2:15.09.  Sara Overly (2:15.26), Emilia Martinez Morales (2:17.44), and Kaisey Speck (2:20.03) all scored points during the consolation final.

Hannah te Velthuis broke the 24.00 second plateau as she won the 50 free going a career-best 23.77 to edge out the competition by 0.05 seconds.  Shatalova clocked a 24.69 as Austyn Crawford touched the wall in 24.79 to finish fifth and sixth, respectfully.  Cerqueira won the consolation final with a time of 24.71 as Rebecca Loftus rounded out UC's scoring with a 24.97.

UC closed out the session with Basto, Cooksey, te Velthuis and Pecore came from behind to win the 400-medley relay touching the wall in 3:55.45.

Earlier in the day Emma Lehmkuhl scored the first points of the meet for UC as she posted a 205.00 to finish runner-up on the one-meter board.

Indiana Wesleyan is in second place with 182 points, while Loyola's 141 points have them in third place.

The Patriots will return to water Friday for the second day of the MSC Championship.  Prelims are set to start at 10 a.m. with finals taking place tomorrow night beginning at 5:30 p.m.  Live video of the event can be found here.

For the latest information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter- @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameday, Instagram- @UCPatriots, Youtube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.