Swimmers Win Five Events but Fall at Piedmont Meet

TALLUAH FALLS, Ga. - The Columbia College swimming teams fell on the road in their season opener on Saturday at Div. III Piedmont University (Ga.). The men lost by a score of 192-54 while the women fell 170-60.

Freshman Za'shawn Barr led the men winning the 100 yard Individual Medley in a time of 1:05.2 while fellow freshman teammate Connor Lommerse went on to win the 100 Backstroke in 57.9 seconds. Lommerse then finished 2nd in the 100 Freestyle in 53.7 seconds while senior Stefan Merkel was 4th in 1:01. Barr also finished 2nd in the 200 Yard IM in 2:24.

Freshman Deon Ellisor then finished 4th out of 8 in the 50 Freestyle swimming a time of 25.3 seconds while Merkel was right behind in 27.2 seconds in 5th place. Sophomore Noah Jackson and Ellisor also virtually tied for 3rd in the 50 yard Butterfly in 28.5 seconds.

In the 200 Medley Relay, the Koala men finished 4th in a time of 1:54 led by Lommerse in the starting leg, Barr in the second leg, Ellisor in the third and Merkel in the anchor leg with the fastest time of 26.2.

The Koalas then finished third in the 200 Free Relay in a time of 1:42, just nine seconds off the winning time. Lommerse led the starting leg again followed by Merkel, Barr, and Ellisor in the anchor leg. Lommerse had the fastets time in the relay at 24.3 seconds.

On the women's side, CC was led by freshman Grace Boyce winning the 100 yard Breast by nine seconds in 1:09 while senior teammate Giuliana Schiavon edged out her opponent to win the 50 yard ButterFly in 30.9 seconds touching the wall by just a few hundredths of a second.

Boyce then won the 200 yard IM in 2:17 winning by 14 seconds.

During the Relays, the women finished 2nd in the 200 Free in a time of 1:54 led by Sabrina Schiavon in the starting leg, Giuliana in the second leg, Isabelle Jensen in the third and Boyce in the anchor leg swimming the fastest time in 25.3 seconds. The Lady Koalas also finished 2nd in the 200 Medley Relay in a time of 2:05 led by S. Schiavon (34 sec), Boyce (31.7), G. Schiavon (32.1), and Jensen in the anchor leg in 27.4 seconds.

The teams are next in action when they return home to host a tri-meet of Piedmont and Brenau on Saturday, November 1 at 2:00 pm.