Buffs tally 27 all-conference swimmers

The Milligan University swimming team brought home plenty of hardware from last week's Appalachian Athletic Conference Championships. Champions on the No. 7 men's side and runners-up on the No. 9 women's side, Milligan placed 19 swimmers on the All-Conference first team and eight swimmers on the All-Conference second team.

Head Coach Spencer Scarth earned AAC men's coach of the year, and included in the men's individual titles was eight-time AAC champion Stephen Gilbert, the AAC men's swimmer of the year.

"To my knowledge, this is by far the most top three finishes we have had on either side in our team's history," Scarth said. "I know we would have had some top three (or higher) at the national championships if we had them this year, which is a little bit of a disappointment as our highest individual finish was third, but we will be there next year."

Milligan won 10 AAC titles on the men's side and nine on the women's side. This included five individual titles for the men and five individual winners for the women. Gilbert led the Milligan men with five relay titles and three individual titles.

Freshmen Tyler Cates and Gabby MacPherson led Milligan with five titles each on the women's side. Cates won two individual events and three relays while MacPherson won one individual event with four relays.

"I also know that we will be moving up in the rankings, which is exciting," Scarth added. "On the academic side, we had nearly every upperclassman represented on the all-academic team, which once again goes to show how diligent they are outside of the pool."

With the NAIA Swimming & Diving National Championships canceled this season, the successful AAC meet marked the end to Milligan's season. The Buffs will next be in action in 2021-22.

Milligan's AAC All-Conference Swimmers

All-AAC First Team

Stephen Gilbert, Aubin Dulin, Ben Hawkins, Logan Garzonio – 200 Medley Relay – 1:35.78
Ben Hawkins – 500 Free – 4:42.30
Stephen Gilbert – 200 IM – 1:49.63 *
Hannah Wheatley, Tyler Cates, Maggie Blazo, Gabby MacPherson – 800 Free Relay – 7:50.43 *
Logan Garzonio, Aubin Dulin, Ben Hawkins, Stephen Gilbert – 800 Free Relay – 6:59.59
Maggie Blazo, Rachel Scheffer, Tyler Cates, Gabby MacPherson – 200 Free Relay – 1:38.89 #
Logan Garzonio, Aubin Dulin, Ben Hawkins, Stephen Gilbert – 200 Free Relay – 1:25.72
Stephen Gilbert – 400 IM – 3:58.98 *#
Kaylee Williams – 100 Breast – 1:06.41 #
Aubin Dulin – 100 Breast – 57.89
Tyler Cates – 100 Back – 57.80 *#
Tyler Cates, Kaylee Williams, Gabby MacPherson, Maggie Blazo – 400 Medley Relay – 3:59.12 *#
Stephen Gilbert, Aubin Dulin, Ben Hawkins, Logan Garzonio – 400 Medley Relay – 3:27.75 #
Tyler Cates – 200 Back – 2:04.99 #
Stephen Gilbert – 200 Back – 1:49.17 *#
Kaylee Williams – 200 Breast – 2:25.06 #
Gabby MacPherson – 200 Fly – 2:09.61 *#
Maggie Blazo, Rachel Scheffer, Taylor Bartlett, Gabby MacPherson – 400 Free Relay – 3:37.64 #
Logan Garzonio, Aubin Dulin, Ben Hawkins, Stephen Gilbert – 400 Free Relay – 3:10.80

All-AAC Second Team

Gabby MacPherson – 500 Free – 5:08.17
Maggie Blazo – 50 Free – 24.64
Bre Coley – 400 IM – 4:52.76
Gabby MacPherson – 100 Fly – 59.49
Logan Garzonio – 100 Back – 54.52
Hannah Wheatley – 1650 Free – 18:43.07
Maggie Blazo – 200 Back – 2:09.03
Jarod Blazo – 200 Back – 1:58.67

* - AAC record
# - Milligan record