Milligan Men's Swimming Breaks Four Pool Records, Both Squads Triumph over WVU Tech
MILLIGAN, Tenn. – The Milligan University men's and women's swim teams hosted WVU Tech inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse's pool for a dual meet on Saturday. On both the men's and women's sides, Milligan emerged victorious, with several pool records being broken in the process.
Milligan's Peter Gilbert earned the event's first provisional qualifying mark, notching a 16:38.81 in the 1500 freestyle. That time was also a new pool record, as the previous mark was 17:31.03 by a Lindsey Wilson swimmer in 2014.
Mary Grace Bitting then scored a provisional clip in the 200 freestyle on the women's side. She clocked in at 2:12.03 to grab her qualifying time for the NAIA National Championships.
The men's duo of Stephen Gilbert and Paxton Smith both earned provisional times in the 100 backstroke, while Gilbert posted his personal-best clip of 57.81. Smith clocked a 59.01 to earn his qualification. Jayden Bearden also marked himself a personal-best at 1:03.00 to finish third in the 100 backstroke.
Teagan Jose's 1:18.89 in the 100 breaststroke was another qualifying mark for the Buffs, as she won the event and posted her new personal-best swim in that discipline.
The Milligan men's Robert Adam provided a 1:04.15 mark to qualify for the NAIA Championships in the 100 breaststroke, while also putting forth a pool-record clip. The previous record was set by Buffs standout Ben Hawkins in 2023.
A pair of Lady Buffs earned provisional marks in the 50 freestyle against WVU Tech, as Bitting and Madison Akbari claimed their sub 29-minute clips. Bitting won the event with a 28.03, which was a new personal-best time. Akbari came out with a 28.40 to finish second behind Bitting.
Milligan's men also posted a group of strong results in the 50 freestyle, as Caleb Fry was just off the pool-record time with a 23.73 to win the race and earn a provisional qualifying mark. Then, Smith and S. Gilbert came away with 24.31 and 24.43 clips to also qualify. Smith's time was also a new personal best.
Fry would then follow up his 50 freestyle performance with another outstanding one in the 100 freestyle. He came away with a 53.46, which was a personal-best clip and also earned him a spot provisionally at the NAIA Championships.
Adam would return for another pool record in the 200 breaststroke, as he posted a 2:20.37 in the event to win and qualify for nationals. Fry had set the previous pool record in the event for the Buffs in 2023, which now changes hands to one of his current teammates.
Gellert Szedlak came away with a provisional mark in the 400 freestyle with a time of 4:13.59 in exhibition competition.
Bitting did the same in her 100 butterfly exhibition race. She posted a 1:05.96 to finish four tenths off the pool record.
The men's 100 butterfly included a standout swim from Sergio Tudor, who touched the wall in 57.69, gaining him a provisional mark. Additionally, S. Gilbert was able to hit the provisional time, scoring a 58.16 mark in exhibition racing.
A pair of Buffaloes men were able to qualify provisionally in the 400 individual medley, as both Adam and P. Gilbert earned that honor. Adam won the exhibition race with a time of 4:39.48, which set a new pool record. P. Gilbert also beat his brother Steven's previous pool record (4:43.44, 2023), with a time of 4:41.75, and qualified for nationals.
Click HERE to view the full results.
The two squads will now be looking ahead to Nov. 20-22, when they will travel to the Gamecock Invite, hosted by the University of South Carolina, to face off with some top-tier competition in Columbia, S.C.