Freshman of the Year and Elite 26 Awards on Final Day of Swimming Championships

Kingsport, Tenn. – The King University team finished the final day of the Conference Carolinas Championships with the top awards coming King's way. Conference Carolinas honored Evan Hayes with the Elite 26 award, which is given to the athlete with the highest GPA in the conference. They also honored Carlos Arias with the Freshman of the Year award of the conference after his impressive Freshman campaign.
 
In the pool, the tornado continues to perform at the top level in the conference. Starting with the women's side. Alice Schoemans set a new King school record in a blazing time of 2:25.07 in the 200-yard Breaststroke.
 
The final event for the women's team today was the 400-yard freestyle relay with Cassie Lowe, Polly Lounsbury, Katie Koenst, and Schoemans, who were able to finish in another school record of 3:34.71.
 
On the men's side, that kept the boat moving into the final day of competition. Oliver Toledo in the 1650-yard freestyle swam fastest enough to be the runner-up with a time of 16:01.26, which was also good for a school record.
 
The only King conference champion came from the freshman of the year himself, Arias, as he won the 209-yard Breaststroke. He won in a time of 2:0024, which is fast enough for a nationals "b" cut and a school record.
 
The men's team finished the day with a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle with the team of Cristobal Amiel, Matthew Montenegro-Strunk, Arias, and Fabio Ricci in a time of 3:02.76, which was fast enough for a school record.
 
 
Up Next: The Tornado will look to see how many athletes they have qualified for the NCAA DII National Swimming and Diving Championship on March 10-14^th at Evansville, Indiana.