Wingate women lead Charlotte quad meet Friday night

Charlotte, N.C.----The Wingate University women’s swimming and diving team won five events Friday night, taking the early lead in a quad meet with Catawba College, Queens University of Charlotte and Savannah College of Art & Design Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center. The Bulldog men’s swimming team is locked in a fierce battle after the first day of the two-day event.

WOMEN
Wingate 88, SCAD 60
Wingate 126, Queens (N.C.) 21
Wingate 112, Catawba 36

Wingate junior Malin Kersmark (Malin-Bjarred, Sweden) won two events Friday. She touched first in the 200 Backstroke with a time of 2:10.67. Earlier in the evening, Kersmark teamed with senior Cheryl Vaccaro (Charlotte, N.C.) and freshmen Amanda Gilbert (Metairie, La.) and Beatrice Svensson (Lomma, Sweden) to take the checkered flag in the 200 Freestyle Relay title with a time of 1:41.65.

Freshman Alexandra Andrechuk (Ajax, Ontario, Canada) won the 200 Individual Medley with a 2:13.96 posting. Sophomore All-American Paige Schmidt (Clearwater, Fla.) earned a victory in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:12.18. Sophomore Elly Speer (Sydney, Australia) collected a gold medal in the 200 Butterfly with a 2:14.22 winning time.

Bulldog freshman Valerie Dembny (Bremen, Germany) claimed three silver medals. She finished second to Andrechuk in the 200 IM (2:14.65) and second to Kersmark in the 200 Back (2:11.16). Dembny, Andrechuk, Kersmark and senior Nicole Moody (Grovetown, Ga.) placed second in the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 4:08.66.

MEN
SCAD 75, Wingate 72
Queens (N.C.) 73, Wingate 73
Wingate 108, Catawba 34

Wingate junior Lee Sousa (Charlotte, N.C.) collected two victories Friday. Sousa won the 200 Backstroke with a time of 1:55.88. In the first men’s event of the evening, Sousa helped the Bulldogs conquer the 200 Freestyle Relay field. The Wingate quartet touched first with a time of 1:27.21.

Joining Sousa on the victory platform were seniors Dwight Richardson (Newport News, Va.) and Lucas Willers (Tacoma, Wash.) and freshman Reed Miller (Mobile, Ala.). Sousa was fourth in the 500 Freestyle (4:57.74), while Richardson was second in the 100 Freestyle (48.18).