Lady Knights finish ninth in inaugural BMC Championships

February 13-16, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Freshman Sarah Supcoe (Charleston, W.Va.) had three top-10 finishes for St. Andrews Presbyterian College as the Lady Knights finished ninth out of 12 teams in the programs first Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships this past week at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club (hosted by Wingate University) from Thursday to Saturday, February 13-16.

St. Andrews first year head coach Jason Gallaher led the inaugural Lady Knights swim team past three NCAA Division II programs in the BMC Championships including Lenoir-Rhyne College, Wheeling Jesuit University, and West Virginia Wesleyan College.

“I was very proud of our women’s team to finish ninth out of 12 teams in the first year of the program,” said Gallaher. “Our goal is to move up in the conference next year.”

The Knights opened up in the 1000 Yard Freestyle on Wednesday evening. Supcoe registered her first of three high finishes with a seventh place showing out of 22 swimmers. Supcoe’s time of 10:54.80 was a new personal record (PR) by almost seven seconds. Junior Kaley Rouse (Lexington, N.C.) and freshman Becky Brandenburg (Swansboro, N.C.) also competed in the 1000 with times of 13:02.20 and 13:04.03, respectively. Brandenburg’s speed was also a new PR.

In Thursday’s action, freshman Amy Tripson (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Brandenburg, and Rouse all tallied new PR’s in the 500 Yard Freestyle. Tripson had St. Andrews highest finish with a time of 5:51.64; Brandenburg (6:16.32) improved on her best time by almost 30 seconds; and Rouse concluded with a time of 6:24.29.

Another trio of Lady Knights set their own new PR’s later that night in the 50 Yard Freestyle. Freshman Tara Barker (Kernersville, N.C.) led the pack with a time of 28:51 while the sophomore duo of Courtney Bertram (Acworth, Ga.) and Leslie Firth (Charlotte, N.C.) added times of 33.86 and 34.54.

SAPC also had a pair of 10th place finishes in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay and 400 Yard Medley Relay.

Supcoe highlighted Friday’s competition with a sixth place finish in the 400 Yard Individual Medley. Supcoe continued to get better throughout the day breaking her PR by 14 seconds in the morning preliminaries and then beat that mark by another two seconds in the finals that night. Supcoe finished sixth out of 18 entrants for her second Bluegrass Mountain Conference A-Cut (top-eight swimmers in an event) with blazing speed of 4:46.02.

Brandenburg (1:11.06) and Barker (1:14.17) followed with new PR’s in the 100 Yard Butterfly. Rouse (2:25.62) and Firth (2:41.72) next competed in the 200 Yard Freestyle with Firth logging a new PR.

Tripson was the second alternate in the 100 Yard Breaststroke just missing the finals by clocking in at 1:19.18.

In the final day of competition, Tripson started Saturday with a new PR in the 200 Yard Backstroke with a time of 2:24.23. Next up was the 100 Yard Freestyle where SAPC once again set three more personal records. Barker (1:04.06) led the way while Firth (1:13.73) and Bertram (1:17.35) also improved on their times.

In the Lady Knights final individual competition of the BMC Championships, Supcoe helped the Royal Blue and White to a respectable finish over three other teams by supplying her third scoring result. Supcoe was seeded eighth going into the finals of the 200 Yard Butterfly by taking three seconds off her top speed but Supcoe moved up two more spots in the finale by setting another new PR with a sizzling time of 2:13.63.

“Sarah (Supcoe) had a great meet. I think we made the right choices for her three individual events with two sixth and a seventh place result. Sarah has been very consistent with her training and racing all year long and her work ethic paid off over the four days of the conference championships. She is a very well rounded swimmer with a great future in her college swimming career,” concluded Gallaher.