Swimming adds 12 more AAC titles on day two of conference championships

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (February 9, 2024) – The Milligan University swimming teams captured 12 of 14 conference titles on the second day of the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Championships at the Kingsport Aquatic Center on Friday evening.

Milligan set six AAC Championship meet record and a pair of program records. Milligan tops the five-team men's standings and six-team women's standings through 24 events.

For the second consecutive evening the Buffs opened the evening session with a pair of AAC Championship meet records in a pair of relays. Liz Mahan, Mary Grace Bitting, Gabby MacPherson and Hanne te Velthuis claimed the conference title in a meet record time of 1:37.06. Paxton Smith, Andre Bazzana, Caleb Fry and Stephen Gilbert set a Milligan team record and improved upon the previous meet record by over two seconds with a time of 1:22.71.

Hudson Trammell set a Milligan and conference championship meet record in the men's 100-yard butterfly. After swimming faster than the meet record in the prelims, he clocked in at 48.66 to claim the conference title. Stephen Gilbert was second in 49.37, Sergio Tudor touched third in 49.86, RJ Brumit placed fourth in 50.30, Cole Brusher was fifth in 50.48 and Ethan McCosh finished sixth in 51.34.

MacPherson defended her AAC title in the women's 100 fly. She broke her own AAC Championship meet record with a time of 57.62. Bitting was third (58.94), Suzy Aguirre place fourth (59.68), Mikayla Best touched sixth (1;01.66), Sammy MacPherson finished seventh (1:01.78) and Alex Hayashi was eighth (1:02.99).

Kaylee Williams won her fourth-straight conference title in the women's 100-yard breaststroke. She edged Union's Emma Phillips with a winning time of 1:05.26. Mirella Rutigliano finished third in 1:11.74. Virginia Rainer (fifth, 1:14.10) and Alex Hayashi (sixth, 1:14.88) appeared in the championship final.

Tyler Cates claimed her fourth-consecutive women's 100-yard backstroke conference championship. Cates won in 58.86 and was followed by teammate Samantha van Vuure (59.91) in second. Sammy MacPherson (sixth, 1:03.24) and Grace Feeney (eighth, 1:05.02) swam in championship finals.

Fry and Ben Hawkins finished first and second in the men's 100 breast. Fry took the conference championship in 55.88 and Hawkins was second in 56.55. Jack Allen placed seventh in 1:00.08.

Paxton Smith won the men's 100 back conference title in 51.11. McCosh was fourth (52.65), Brumit took fifth (52.68), Trammell was sixth (52.73), Simon Popelka finished seventh (53.24) and Adam Bengtson was eighth (54.81).

Peter Gilbert repeated as the AAC champion in the men's 400-yard individual medley. Freshman Nate Halloran raced to a runner-up finish in 4:10.57.

Riley Renaud won her second conference title is any many days as she took home the women's 200-yard freestyle championship for the second-straight year in 1:54.64. Te Velthuis was the runner-up in 1:55.21. Liz Mahan placed fourth in 1:57.33 and Kaelin Forscutt appeared in the championship final and was seventh (2:14.13).

The Buffs finished second through fourth in the men's 200 free. Bazzana was second (1:42.93), Jayden Bearden finished third (1:43.22) and Jacob Miller was fourth (1:43.36).

Milligan closed the evening with two more meet records in the 400-yard medley relay. Cates, Williams, Gabby MacPherson and te Velthuis clocked in at 3:55.24. Smith, Fry, Trammell and Gilbert won in 3:24.29.

Milligan looks to clinch their third-straight men's and women's conference championship sweep tomorrow at the Kingsport Aquatic Center.