Greensboro, N.C. -- The University of Lynchburg men's and women's swimming teams opened up the Old Dominion Athletic Conference swimming championships on Wednesday night.
The men placed fourth in the 800-yard freestyle relay, and the women came in fifth. Erik Witt, Ahmad Woodson, Andrew Fiore, and Miles Fitzgerald went 7:03.54 for the men, and Delaney Kennedy, Lindsey Hair, Regan Leach, and Molly Spano put up a 7:59.18 for a program-best time on the women's side.
While the Hornets dipped their toes into the water of the championship with only one relay each, Lynchburg is neck-deep in the longest season of any NCAA sport in preparing for the final three days of the ODAC championships.
The Hornets started out in September with practices and scrimmaged Liberty University on Sept. 23. The Hornets and Flames both call the Liberty Natatorium home: the top-of-the-line facility perched on Liberty Mountain in Lynchburg, Va.
After the women placed second at the ODAC Relays and the men finished fourth on the last weekend of September, the Hornets opened up a loaded dual-meet schedule resulting in four wins for the women and two wins for the men. The women beat Bridgewater, Sweet Briar twice, tied Roanoke, and beat Southern Virginia to close out the dual-meet slate. The men also got past the Knights of SVU with a win and beat Roanoke for the second time in the program's history.
Throughout the ups and downs of the season, Ryan Bambrick and Savy Borroughs emerged as two of the top swimmers for the Hornets, but in different ways. Borroughs, an upperclassmen on the women's team, continued her stellar Hornet career with her second ODAC swimmer of the week award. She entered the season with program records in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle, putting up both lifetime-best swims during the 2023 ODAC championships at the end of last year.
Bambrick, one of 15 freshmen between the men's and women's team, burst into the limelight to start the spring semester against Roanoke. The Charlotte, N.C. native won three individual events and was on a winning relay during the victory against the Maroons despite not being highly seeded in any race. His big swims were crucial point swings in the meet, fueled the 52-point win, and led to a swimmer of the week award.
Colton Schnars, the reigning ODAC swimmer of the year, is also back with Lynchburg. He holds the top 50-yard backstroke at 23.87 for the season. He also has the No. 2 mark in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke in the 2023-24 campaign.
Two more graduate students on the women's team have some of the fastest time in the ODAC as well. Claire Galloway has the fastest 50 and 100-yard breaststroke in the league. Molly Spano, a graduate transfer from Southwestern University, has the best 400-yard individual medley in the ODAC.
After the midseason meet in Cary, N.C. to end the fall semester, the Hornets had already put up 165 season-best swims and 20 lifetime-bests. Spano has left her mark on the program record book with the top times in the 500-yard freestyle, 1,000-yard freestyle, and 1,650-yard freestyle. Borroughs added a fresh 100-yard freestyle time to her already-existing program record.
Properly tapered and with a little more adrenaline from the championship atmosphere, the Hornets will look for more lifetime-best and program-record swims to go along with All-ODAC awards. They will also be hunting conference titles which would be the first in the men's trophy case and the second for the women. Lynchburg won the women's swimming conference title in 2020.
Competition resumes Thursday, Feb. 7 back at the Greensboro Aquatic Center at 10 a.m. for preliminary action and 6 p.m. that night for finals.
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--LYN--
