GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Bridgewater College men’s and women’s swim teams turned in strong efforts across the four-day meet at the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Championships last weekend at the Greensboro Aquatic Complex.
The men opened the championships with a fifth-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The quartet of Kaleb Erb, Colton White, Kris Schultz and Andrea Cibrario touched the wall at 6:59.52, beating their seeded time. Ultimately, the men’s team finished fourth in the championship.
“It was a really great season for us, and just conference meet, for the end of the year,” Senior Kristopher Schultz said. “We had a lot of great swims, and it was really nice to see a lot of the hard work that the team put in, pay off within the swims. Everyone across the board did really, really well.”
On the women’s side, Bridgewater produced several standout swims during the meet. Junior McKenna Curry set the program record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.45. Senior Grace Warren added a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle to earn Second Team All-ODAC recognition.
Warren also took home the “Bonnie Kestner Sportsmanship Award”, one of three conference awards the Eagles took home. Zachary Erb earned the ODAC “male Swimmer of the Year Award” after earning ODAC titles in three individual events and one relay. Tessa Gorby took home the “female Rookie of the Year Award” after breaking three program records and becoming the first female ODAC event champion in program history.
“Every single year I’ve been part of the Bridgewater swimming program, we’ve done better each and every year,” senior Gracen Kelley said. “So this is the best we’ve done, so that was really cool to see.”
The men’s and women’s teams had a combined total of nine All-ODAC honors. Zachary Erb, Christian Carroll and Tessa Gorby earned first-team honors. Grace Warren, Connor Cayer, Andrea Cibrario and Kaleb Erb earned second-team honors. Finally, McKenna Curry and Alessandro Nani earned third-team honors.
The men’s team also made two NCAA Consideration Cuts with Christian Carroll, Zachary Erb, Kaleb Erb and Connor Cayer finishing in first-place in the 200-yard medley relay at 1:28.67 and second in the 400-yard medley relay at 3:16.67.
The women’s team brought home multiple program records including Tessa Gorby, Mia Flory, Nelle Hines and Whitney Speaks’ 1:38.82 finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay as well as Gorby’s 23.74 finish in the 50-yard freestyle.
Bridgewater’s women closed the meet in fifth place overall out of 10 teams with 350 points while the men finished in fourth out of nine teams with 477.5 points.
Looking ahead, Kelley said the team’s focus will remain on its culture.
“I would say just continuing the team dynamic we have now,” Kelley said. “I think that’s what puts us above other programs, is the fact that we are close on a different level and we’re rooting for each other.”
With multiple all-conference selections, program records and three major conference awards, both Bridgewater teams closed the championship with one of the program’s strongest overall performances.
“This is the first time I felt like we had a struggle and actually stepped up and overcame it,” Assistant Coach Ethan Coleman said. “Definitely the best performing ODACs I’ve been to.”
Anyone interested in more information on the Eagles’ swim teams can visit their websites:
https://bridgewatereagles.com/sports/mens-swimming-and-diving
https://bridgewatereagles.com/sports/womens-swimming-and-diving
