LYNCHBURG, Va. – In the third straight meet against an Old Dominion Athletic Conference opponent, the Southern Virginia University men's and women's swim teams fell to Lynchburg University on Saturday.
"It was fun to swim at a great facility at Liberty University," stated Head Coach
Jennifer Moore. "There was a lot of great energy from our athletes as they encouraged and celebrated each other."
In the first solo event of the meet, the 1000-yard freestyle,
Riley Mortensen dominated the field, winning by a margin of 40-plus seconds.
Cenedra Hooley battled with Lynchburg's Regan Leach throughout the 200 free but came up just short, finishing in second and earning four points for the team. On the men's side,
Stuart Burbidge's great start in the same event propelled him to victory, getting the men's team on the board.
Kelsie Drennen earned the first triumph for the women's side in the 100 backstroke, earning nine points. In the men's 100 back, the Knights had second and fourth-place finishers, with
Parker Kam and
Lane Evans tallying points.
Caleb Wynn had an excellent showing in the 200 fly, setting a new school record of 1:59.66.
In the shortest event, the 50 free, both teams saw third-place finishes with
Jamie Horne for the women and
Joshua Skabelund on the men's side.
In the following event, the 100 freestyle, Horne and Hooley would finish second and third, while Burbidge would earn his second victory of the afternoon for the men.
Kelsie Drennen would also secure her second triumph of the meet in the 200 backstroke with a 2:13.15 time.
Lane Evans came up short, finishing less than a second behind Lynchburg's Erik Witt.
Caleb Wynn followed up his record-setting performance in his previous race with a win in the 200 breaststroke.
Riley Mortensen registered another convincing victory, this time in the 500 free, winning by 10-plus seconds. On the men's side,
Stuart Burbidge came up just short as he battled for his third consecutive triumph, finishing second.
However, Drennen was successful in her search for three straight wins, reaching the wall first in the 100 fly. The men swept the event, with Joshua Skaeblund,
Josh Axtell and
Lincoln Garcia finishing first, second and third, respectively.
In the 200 individual medley,
Caleb Wynn recorded his second straight victory, capping off an outstanding performance for the freshman.
The Knights closed out the meet with a second and third-place finish in the men's 200 freestyle relay.
Southern Virginia will conclude its regular season on Friday, Feb. 3, when they take on Mary Washington.
For all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University men's and women's swimming, please visit knightathletics.com and follow @knight_swimming on Instagram.
