Swimming closes calendar year with outdoor dual at St. Thomas

MIAMI, Fla. (December 14, 2022) – Milligan University's swim teams competed with NAIA national contender St. Thomas during the Buffs' annual Florida training trip on Wednesday morning.

The meet marked Milligan swimming's first-ever outdoor swim meet and first official competition in the sunshine state. The Bobcats won narrowly in both men's and women's competitions as STU prevailed 113-96 on the men's side and 116-92 in the women's dual.

"For the heavy duty training we're doing, and being down a lot of our top swimmers, we did a fantastic job," said head coach Spencer Scarth. "We got to compete in a few events we never get to do, including mixed relays and 100 IM while setting records in both events for men and women. Our team has done an outstanding job of training in a new environment and we are looking forward to a few more days of great work!"

The December meet featured several non-championship events, including mixed relays, 50-yard butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke and a 100-yard individual medley. The Buffs accumulated 10 NAIA national provisional qualifying times despite the event limitations.

Peter Gilbert notched first-place finishes in the men's 500-yard and 1000-yard freestyle events. Gilbert swam 4:45.65 in the 500 free and 10:00.11 in the 1000 free. Jacob Miller was the runner-up in both events, swimming 4:56.93 in the 500 and 10:11.02 in the 1000. Gilbert and Miller both notched provisional standards in the 500 free.

Apple Burton (5:23.45) and Riley Renaud (5:25.96) finished first and second in the women's 500 free with provisional marks. Renaud won the 1000 free in 11:00.50 and Burton finished second in 11:16.71.

Stephen Gilbert won the men's 100-yard backstroke with a national provisional time of 53.03. He also set the program record and finished as the runner-up in the men's 100 IM (53.99).

Tyler Cates won the women's 100 back in 1:01.24, good for an NAIA provisional time. Rachell Connell finished third in the 100 back in 1:04.02.

Andre Bazzana won the men's 100-yard butterfly with a provisional mark of 52.06. Alex Hayashi was second in the women's 100 fly in 1:04.03 and Connell followed in third in 1:04.62.

Caleb Fry took the meet title in the men's 100-yard breaststroke in 58.16. Ben Hawkins was the runner-up in the 100 breast in 1:00.88 and won the 50 breast in 27.62.

Mary Grace Bitting finished first in the women's 100 IM with a school-record time of 1:01.90. Samantha van Vuure placed second in the women's 100 free (56.57) and Bitting was third in 56.63.

Zac Nelson was the runner-up in the men's 100 free (50.11) and Virginia Rainer was second in the women's 100 breast (1:13.26).

In the mixed 4x50 freestyle relay, Fry, van Vuure, Bitting and Gilbert took first place in 1:33.47. All four swimmers notched NAIA provisional marks in the 50-yard freestyle. Fry in 21.78, Gilbert in 20.91, van Vuure in 25.44 and Bitting in 25.34.

The Buffs resume their schedule on Jan. 13 at home against Lees-McRae.