Swimming claims nine of 10 AAC titles on opening day of AAC Championships

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (February 9, 2023) – The Milligan University swim teams captured nine of 10 titles on the first day of the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Swimming Championships at the Kingsport Aquatic Center on Thursday evening.

The Buffs swept claimed all four relay titles and five of six individual championships on the first day of the championship meet. Milligan set one AAC Championship relay record on the day. The Buffs topped the men's standings with 314 points and women's standings with 302 points. WVU Tech sits second with 167 men's points and 169 women's points.

Milligan dominated the morning prelims session with Buffs grabbing 28 of 48 individual spots in championship finals in the evening session.

Milligan opened Thursday's evening session with a sweep of the 200-yard medley relay finals. Tyler Cates, Kaylee Williams, Rachel Connell and Gabby MacPherson won the women's title by nearly seven seconds in 1:50.55.

The Buffs set the AAC Championship record in the men's 200 medley relay of RJ Brumit, Caleb Fry, Andre Bazzana and Stephen Gilbert in 1:32.06.

The Buffs took the title and swept the top four spots in the women's 500-yard freestyle. Riley Renaud captured her first individual AAC championship in 5:05.71. Samantha van Vuure finished second in 5:14.40, Gabby MacPherson was third in 5:18.356 and Suzy Aguirre finished fourth in 5:38.33.

Peter Gilbert took the men's title in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:36.69. Jacob Miller was second in 4:39.16, Nicolas Harviel placed third in 4:42.94 and Michael Cellucci touched fifth in 4:53.79.

Mary Grace Bitting claimed the AAC title in the women's 200-yard individual medley. She swam to a first-place finish in 2:09.50. Emma Rae Phillips took third in 2:10.96 and Apple Burton was fourth in 2:14.50.

Gilbert won the men's 200 IM for the third time in his career as he touched the wall in 1:51.47. The Buffs had five of the top six finishers in the event as Ben Hawkins (1:57.87), Jack Allen (1:59.22), Ben Tomberlin (2:00.94) and AJ Stralow (2:02.57) finished second, third, fourth and sixth, respectively.

In the women's 50-yard freestyle, Liz Mahan claimed her first individual AAC title in 24.81. Cates was third in 25.46, Kaelin Forscutt finished fourth in 25.47, Aguirre placed fifth in 26.20 and Virginia Rainer was sixth in 26.63.

The only event in which Milligan did not take home gold was the men's 50-yard freestyle. Caleb Fry finished second in 21.10. Cole Brusher was third (21.34), Brumit finished fourth (21.70) and Bazzana placed fifth (21.80).

The Buffs closed the day with a sweep of the 800-yard freestyle relay titles. Milligan's women's grouping of van Vuure, Bitting, Mahan and MacPherson won in 7:55.04.

Jayden Bearden, Bazzana, Peter Gilbert and Stephen Gilbert claimed the men's 800 free relay title in 6:54.17.

The AAC Championships continue tomorrow morning with the prelims at 9:00 a.m.