Men's Swimming Places 7th at D-3 Pacer Invitational

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Columbia College men's swim team competed at the Div. III Pacer Invitational at William Peace University last weekend and finished in 7th place at the meet while defeating Div. III Greensboro College (NC). 

D-3 VA schools Univ. of Lynchburg and Roanoke finished 1st and 2nd at the meet while D-2 Barton College (NC) was third. D-3 Hampden-Sydney (Va.) was 4th followed by Chowan (NC), Peace (NC), the Koalas and Greensboro. Columbia defeated GC 140-6 in the standings.

Starting off for the men on Friday morning was Jamal Johnson as he placed 19th in the 500 Yard Freestyle in a time of 6:29. Three Koala men then competed in the 50 yard freestyle led by Stefan Merkel placing 33rd in a time of 26 seconds while teammate, freshman Thomas Remely was right behind in 34th in 26.8. Freshman Noah Jackson then touched in 26.9 seconds to finish 36th.

The Koala men then finished 11th in the 200 Medley Relay in 2 minutes flat with Merkel swimming the first leg followed by Remely, Jackson, and Johnson. Then, the 200 Free Relay team also placed 11th out of 15 in 1:48. The 400 Medley Relay team also came in 11th with a time of 4:30 as Merkel led off followed by Remely, Jackson, and Johnson.

Jackson then swam the 100 Butterfly in a time of 1:06 to place 26th of 34. Three more Koala swimmers then stepped to the platform in the 200 Freestyle with Merkel leading the way in 33rd with a time of 2:09 while Johnson came in 38th in 2:17 and Remely in 40th in 2:21. In the 100 Breaststroke, CC was led by Remely placing 28th in 1:15 as he knocked off numerous D-3 swimmers while he also swam the 200 Breast on Saturday but struggled to a 2:49 time to place 21st.

Three Koalas also competed in the 100 Freestyle led by Merkel in 37th in 57.5 seconds. He was followed by Jackson and Johnson in 41st and 42nd places with times at 1 minute flat and 1:02 respectively. Finally, in the 400 Free Relay on Saturday, the Koalas swam a 4-minute flat race with Jackson (59.6) in the lead leg, followed by Merkel (57.8), Johnson (1:02), and Remely (1:00).

The swim teams will now enjoy their holiday break before getting back in the pool in January as they ready for the AAC Championships in February.