Chris Ferguson, Campus Carrier Asst. Sports Editor

The Berry men’s and women’s swim teams have been making waves this season by setting new team and personal bests. In the first meet of the year against Sewanee University, the women’s team won 133-109 and the men’s team just fell short with a 115.5-105.5 loss. The women were able to walk away with five first place finishes, and the men were able to get two. 

Sophomore Spencer O’Neale looks to better his times and support his team throughout the rest of the season. 

“I want to drop time in the 400IM and get down to five minutes on the 500M freestyle,” said O’Neale. “Working on technique and training really hard is how I plan to achieve this. I also want the team to perform well at conference and maintain a healthy team dynamic. We can achieve this by supporting and encouraging each other while also becoming closer as a team.” 

This past weekend, the Vikings faced Emmanuel College but just fell short of victory. The Lions are in the NAIA division which allowed the teams to compete in a friendly out-of-conference meet. This provided the team with some strong competition as one of the men on the opposing team competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics for Barbados. 

For the men, freshman Dylan White was able to secure a first place spot in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.92 and a second place spot in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:47.32. Freshman Cole Beddingfield was also able to place second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.33. 

For the women, junior Chelsea Mazies placed first in 1M diving with 178.12 points. Junior Leigh Hadaway placed first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.84. Freshman Maggie Hogsed placed first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.25. Senior Corley Peth placed second in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 12:32.47. Freshman Brooke Boyd placed second in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke with times of 1:59.69 and 1:10.29, respectively. Freshman Berkeley Hawks placed second in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:35.27. 

Senior Corley Peth said the team has had success both overall and individually and are able to do this through their emphasis on being close as a team. 

“I think what has really helped the team’s success this season is due to two main characteristics the team has shown strongly this year,” said Peth. “The first is our ability to lean on, and support each other through the toughest days, whether it be in practice, competition or for personal matters. The second is celebrating the big and small success as a team, regardless if they are for an individual or the team as a whole.” 

“In order to continue the success we have experienced this season, we will continue to take things step-by-step,” said Peth. “This helps us understand that the small things we do everyday will make the biggest difference in our conference championship come February.”