Koala Swimming Splits at Home Meet
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Columbia College swim teams split their meets on Sunday at home from Greer Natatorium. Both squads fell to Piedmont University but went on to defeat Greensboro College.
The women won 96-68 over GC and fell 64-158 to PU while the men defeated GC 38-30.
In the first event of the day on Sunday, the women finished 4th in the 200 Medley Relay in 2:09 as the team of sophomore Kayle Buss, Sabrina and Giuliana Schiavon, and senior Kayla Harmon fell just milliseconds shy of placing 3rd. Buss then led the team in the 200 IM placing 3rd of 5 in 2:30 while Harmon and Annabelle Lee were 5th and 6th in the 50 yard Backstroke in 35.6 seconds.
In the 200 freestyle, the Koalas' Andrea Piedra finished 2nd in 2:18.5 while the men's team's Stefan Merkel and sophomore Jamal Johnson placed 4th and 5th in the same event. Merkel, a junior, swam a time of 2:18.3 while Johnson was 2:22.
In the 50 yard Free, freshman Sabrina Schiavon led the charge placing 4th of 7 in 29.5 seconds while Harmon and Lee were right behind in 5th and 6th in 32 seconds. Freshman Noah Jackson also swam the 50 Free for the men and finished 6th in 27.6 seconds. Then, in the men's 100 Free, Merkel and Johnson were again 4th and 5th in 1:02 and 1:04 respectively while Piedra led the women placing 3rd of 6 in the 100 free in 1:03.9. Piedra was also 2nd in the 500 Free with a time of 6:23.
Giuliana came in 3rd of 5 in the 100 Butterfly in 1:11 while Jackson was 4th for the men in 1:15. In the 50 yard Breast stroke, the ladies had Lucy Ellisor finish 4th in 43.5 seconds while Merkel came in 6th in the breast stroke in 36.5 seconds. Giuliana also finished 3rd in the 50 Fly in 32.3 seconds while Jackson was third as well in the 50 Fly in 31.2 seconds. Sabrina then placed 2nd in the 200 Breast in 2:57.9 while Buss finished 2nd in the 100 IM in 1:09.
Buss had the Koalas' best performance of the day in the 100 Backstroke as she won the event in a time of 1:07.8 just outstretching the runner-up from Piedmont by .15 seconds. Finally, in the women's 200 Free Relay, the ladies swam a time of 1:58 to place 3rd of four led by the Schiavon sisters, harmon, and piedra.
The swim teams will next be in the pool on Saturday when they remain home to host Brenau University (Ga.) on Senior Day at 12 Noon.