RESULTSMIDLAND – The Wayland Baptist swimming and diving team went into its dual meet against UT-Permian Basin with one goal in mind: Come home with more national cuts. The Pioneers did just that Saturday, gaining 13 new cuts for the NAIA Championships in March.
"We did a good job today," head coach Alyson Hannan said. "Coming into the meet we wanted to try and get cuts for kids who haven't gotten any yet. We strategically paired kids up with certain individuals who we knew could push each other and it really paid off for us. We did exactly what we wanted to do."
Gabriel Phillips,
Darby Dehass,
Laura Winter, and
Judith Winter all received A-cuts on Saturday, while nine B-cuts were made throughout the evening.
Phillips received his A-cut in the 100-yard backstroke after winning the event in 54.83 seconds. Dehass and Laura and
Judith Winter made A-cuts in the 50-yard freestyle. Dehass was the runner-up in the race, finishing in 25.20 seconds, while Laura and Judith finished fourth and fifth with times of 25.45 and 25.73 seconds.
Laura Winter and Dehass picked up B-cuts in the 100 free, and were just a second shy of earning an A-cut. Phillips also picked up a B-cut in the 200-yard free after finishing second in one minute, 49.49 seconds.
Also earning B-cuts were
Ayrial Hiracheta,
Bentley Gilbert,
Jake Farley, and
Nathan McCormick.
Hiracheta placed second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of one minute, 4.15 seconds, while Farley and McCormick made their cuts in time trials in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle.
Gilbert's cut came in the 100 free, and after finishing in 49.97 seconds, Hannan said "that's the fastest he's been all season."
Also setting a new personal best at the City of Midland Aquatics Center was
Sean Bohnet. The freshman from Sherman finished the 100 back in 59.98 seconds, breaking the one-minute barrier for the first time all season.
"It's hard to break (the one-minute mark)," Hannan said. "He's been at one minute, one minute and one second all year, so for him to break that is a huge accomplishment. His time should start dropping a lot faster now that he's under a minute. Besides all the cuts we got today, Sean getting his time under a minute was probably the biggest thing that happened today."
Another incredible feat that was pulled off Saturday was
Bjoern Globke swimming in every men's individual event. The sophomore from Germany competed in 10 individual races, earning the "iron man" title from his coach.
"Bjoern was our iron man swimmer today," Hannan said. "He wanted to swim hard and continue to get ready for nationals so he swam every individual meet. Bjoern usually competes in the breaststroke and individual medley, which are two of the hardest events out there. They require so much of body to be used. I was waiting for him to say he was done, but he never did."
The Pioneers fell to the Falcons in the men's and women's duals, but that's not what Hannan had in mind for her swimmers.
"We came in and did what we wanted to today," she said. "We earned a lot of new cuts which will make us stronger for nationals. It's a big relief to get those cuts, and getting over that hurdle is huge for us.
"Now we have to work on getting faster and trying to knock our times down to the top-16 in the NAIA so that when we get to nationals we'll have a better chance to score some points in those events."
Wayland will be in Arkansas next weekend, swimming in their final meet before the conference championship meet in Oklahoma City. The Pioneer women have a tri-meet against Henderson State and Arkansas-Little Rock, while the men face off against Henderson State. Both duals take place in Little Rock on Jan. 31.
