ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Freshman Jade Canady broke the school and freshman one-meter diving records with a score of 213.90 to highlight the UNC Asheville swimming & diving team’s meet Friday evening against Liberty. Despite the record-breaking performance, the Bulldogs fell to the Lady Flames by a score of 162-127.
“We had a lot of great performances today,” said UNC Asheville Head Coach Elizabeth Lykins. “We are very proud of how we competed. Liberty is an excellent team, but we kept competing. Even though the final score had them on top, it was nice to see so many great performances. Special recognition goes to Jade for breaking the school and freshman records in one-meter dives and Delaney Carlton, who scored a lifetime best in the 200y freestyle, which rarely happens in the middle of the dual meet season.”
Canady broke both the school and freshman one-meter diving records not once but twice on Friday. The freshman from Huntersville, N.C. broke it first with a score of 193.45 but topped herself later on with a score of 213.90. Jessica Brock, Madi Alexander, and Megan Almond also competed for the Bulldogs on the springboard in their first action of the new season.
Both of Asheville’s event victories came at the Justice Center Pool. Kylie Johnson notched her third event win of the season, pacing the 1000y freestyle field with a time of 10:53.86, besting her time last week of 10:58.25. Meanwhile, Carlton accounted for the other event win for the Bulldogs logging a time of 52.60 in the 100y free. Additionally, the Bulldogs did improve from their opening meet against Campbell as the team notched new season-best marks in seven different events: 1000y free, 200y free, 100y back, 100y fly, 200y back, 200y fly, and 500y free.
Liberty took the top spot in both relay events. Asheville placed fourth in the meet-opening relay (400y medley) with a time of 4:03.56. However, the Bulldogs closed out the evening strong as the foursome of Carlton, Rachel Daly, Jessie Frank, and Abby Parks finished with a time of 1:38.68, finishing barely behind the top time of 1:38.34 from Liberty.
The Bulldogs will return to action on October 31 when they host Gardner-Webb and Lenoir-Rhyne at the Buncombe County Aquatic Center. The meet is scheduled to get underway at noon.
