Swimming posts top-three finishes at King Invitational

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (October 1, 2023) – The Milligan University swimming teams both earned top-three finishes at the King Invitational to open the 2023-24 season at the Kingsport Aquatic Center on Sunday.

Milligan's men topped the eight-team standings with 464.5 points and the Buffs' women placed third with 214 points.

Milligan swept the first four places in the men's 200-yard butterfly. Andre Bazzana won the meet title and hit the national provisional mark in 1:57.73. Hudson Trammell (2:00.40), Sergio Tudor (2:01.21) and Simon Popelka (2:02.84) followed second-through-fourth in the event.

Paxton Smith took home the meet title and swam a national provisional standard in the 100-yard backstroke in 52.94. RJ Brumit finished third in 55.10.

Caleb Fry won the men's 100-yard breaststroke with a provisional swim of 58.97.

Mary Grace Bitting and Samantha van Vuure notched national provisional times in the 400-yard individual medley. Bitting finished second in 4:44.64 and van Vuure was third in 4:54.98.

Hanne te Velthuis was the runner-up in the 100-yard freestyle (55.12) with a national provisional time.

Tyler Cates placed third in the 100 back and hit the national provisional mark with a time of 1:01.87. Kaylee Williams finished fourth with a provisional time of 1:10.01 in the 100 breast.

Popelka nearly secured a provisional cut in the men's 400 IM, finishing second overall in 4:23.54.

Milligan won the men's 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:09.73 and finished second in the women's 400 free relay in 3:40.32.

Milligan swimming takes on Union in a dual meet on Oct. 14.