BY JACOB STOUT
Lions’ Pride Sports Writer

From February 17 to February 20, the Saint Leo Lions Men and Women swim teams traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina to take part in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships. The event was hosted by Wingate University at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club.

The Lions competed against teams from Wingate University, Johns Hopkins University, Rollins College, Limestone College, The University of Tampa, Washington and Lee University, Fairmont State University, Catawba College, Florida Southern College, West Virginia Wesleyan College, Pfeiffer University, and Transylvania University.

On the first day of the event Erin Hotchkiss scored six points for the women’s team by placing 11th in the 1000 YD Freestyle with a time of 10:52.11, crushing her previous record. Freshman Sarah Earls also competed in the event, finishing with a time of 11:40.75.

In the second event of the day, the women’s relay team comprised of Hotchkiss, Allison Cary, Alicia Thompson, and Alisha Adams scored 12 points by placing 11th with a time of 8:10.03. After the first day, the women’s team was in 10th place with a total of 18 points.

The men’s team started just as strong with Matt Attal grabbing seven points with a 10th place finish in a time of 9:58.35. Alex Parada finished 18th with a time of 10:32.75.

In the men’s relay later in the day the men’s team of Tim Olson, Attal, Thomas Rey, and Derek Maddigan took 10 points with a 12th place finish coming in at 7:19.44. With a total of 17 points, the men’s team stood 11th after the first day.

On the second day of the championships, Olson competed in the Men’s 200 IM Finals and grabbed two points with a time of 1:58.10.

Later in the day the women’s team of Adams, Pierce, Hotchkiss, and Thompson won 12 more points for their team by placing 11th in a time of 4:09.58. On the men’s side, VanBuren, Maddigan, Attal, and Gramm took 10 points with a 12th place finish in a time of 3:43.20.

Both the men’s and women’s teams swam well during the meet with the women’s team of Allison Cary, Erin Lucas, Jessica Pall and Melinda Pierce setting a new Saint Leo University record in the 200 Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:43.59. They broke the previous record by .09 seconds.

The Men’s team finished in 11th place for the meet with a total of 97 points while the women’s team also finished in 11th place with a total of 108 points.