Charlotte, N.C.----The Wingate University men’s swimming team captured its fifth consecutive Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship Saturday night (results), while the Bulldog women finished second to NCAA Division III power Johns Hopkins (Md.) University. The 14th annual BMC championship meet was held at the Mecklenburg County Aquatics Center (MCAC) pool in downtown Charlotte. Twenty-seven teams and 400 student-athletes participated in this year’s event.
 
The Wingate men completed the four-day event with 714 points. Queens University of Charlotte was second with 565 points. The third-place JHU Blue Jays had 520.5 points. Wingate head coach Kirk Sanocki received the Bob Busby Award for men’s Coach of the Year. Bulldog sophomore Iaroslav Denysenko (Poltava, Ukraine) earned BMC Swimmer of the Meet laurels for the second year in a row.
 
Johns Hopkins recorded 818 points to take the women’s crown for the second straight year. Wingate had 560 points as the top NCAA Division II finisher. The Bulldogs finished second to the Blue Jays in 2011 as well. Queens finished third on the 2012 team leader board with 388 points. JHU sophomore Taylor Kitayama (Boulder, Colo.) was named the BMC Swimmer of the Meet. Six-time NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year George Kennedy from Johns Hopkins won the Bob Busby Award for women’s Coach of the Year.
 
Wingate University men’s swimming
Saturday BMC recap

Denysenko won the 1650 Freestyle Saturday with an NCAA Division II “A” cut time of 15:17.40. Second-place finisher Alex Graudins from SCAD-Savannah was 16-plus seconds behind Denysenko. The Bulldogs had three student-athletes earn All-BMC honors in the 1650 Free: freshman Max Normand (Orlando, Fla.) and junior Cole Dutton (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) joined Denysenko on the All-BMC squad. Wingate freshman Kyle Riordan (Canton, Ohio) won the 1650 Free “B” final.
 
For the second year in a row, Denysenko won three-of-three distance races, placing first in the 500, 1000 and 1650 Freestyle events. He won the 500 Freestyle Thursday with a new meet and conference-record time of 4:22.68. The 2011 NCAA Division II national champion in the 500 Free, Denysenko missed the D-II 500 Free record by one-tenth of a second. On Wednesday, Denysenko won the 1000 Freestyle with a meet-record time of 9:04.86. He also swam the anchor leg on Wingate’s second-place 800 Freestyle Relay quartet Wednesday night.

Wingate sophomore Marko Blazevski (Skopje, Macedonia) won the 200 Butterfly Saturday, recording an NCAA Division II “B” cut time of 1:50.87. The 2011 BMC Swimmer of the Year, Blazevski won the 400 Individual Medley Friday night.
 
The Bulldogs had four student-athletes earn All-BMC honors in the 200 Backstroke. Sophomore Tim Kniffler (Mulheim, Germany) was second with a time of 1:49.25. SCAD-Savannah’s Ryan Searles won the event with a new meet and conference-record time of 1:46.33. Kniffler was the defending champion, as he recorded a 2011 triumphant time of 1:49.35.
 
Wingate occupied the sixth, seventh and eighth-place spots in the 200 Back. Freshman Chris Morris (Millville, N.J.) swam a personal-best 1:52.37 to take sixth place. Seniors Lee Sousa (Cornelius, N.C.) and Santino Viselli (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) were seventh and eighth, respectively. All four Bulldogs recorded 200 Backstroke “B” cuts.
 
In the 400 Freestyle Relay, Wingate earned the silver medal. The Bulldogs missed an NCAA Division II “A” cut by three/one hundredths of a second. Team members included freshman Issam Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium), sophomore Liubomyr Lemeshko (Poltava, Ukraine) and juniors Spencer Waganaar (Satellite Beach, Fla.) and Rory Julyan (Cape Town, South Africa).
 
Wingate University women’s swimming
Saturday BMC recap

Wingate junior Paige Schmidt (Clearwater, Fla.) won the BMC 1650 Freestyle race for the third year in a row, touching first Saturday with an NCAA Division II “A” cut time of 16:58.16. The 2010 BMC Swimmer of the Year, Schmidt won the 1000 Freestyle Wednesday night with a time of 10:16.55. She finished third in the 500 Freestyle Thursday night with a personal-best time of 5:00.10.
 
Bulldog freshman Amy Saunders (Brisbane, Australia) was sixth in the 1650 Freestyle with a personal-best time of 17:42.19, earning an All-BMC ribbon. Saunders occupied the same position in the 500 Freestyle.
 
Three Wingate student-athletes received All-BMC distinction in the 200 Backstroke. Bulldog sophomore Valerie Dembny (Bremen, Germany) was second with a time of 2:03.62. Classmate Cameron Washburn (Wilmington, N.C.) was third with a 2:05.43 clocking. Wingate senior Malin Kersmark (Malin-Bjarred, Sweden) was eighth with a time of 2:07.39. All three swimmers post NCAA Division II “B” cuts, while Dembny and Washburn record personal-best times.
 
The 200 Butterfly was déjà-vu for the Bulldogs, as three swimmers received All-BMC laurels. Wingate junior Elly Speer (Manly, Sydney, Australia) was second with a time of 2:05.18. Sophomore Kati Budnik (Muskego, Wis.) and freshman Kellie Gervas (Imperial, Pa.) were fourth and fifth, respectively. Each member of this Bulldog trio recorded a personal-best time in the 200 Fly. Speer notched an NCAA Division II “B” cut.
 
Washburn and Dembny swam the first and fourth legs, respectively, as Wingate finished fourth in the meet-ending 400 Freestyle Relay (3:33.01). They were joined by junior Eduarda Zucco (Brasque, Brazil) and sophomore Amanda Gilbert (Metairie, La.). The Bulldog quartet earned an NCAA Division II “B” cut.
 
The Wingate women have two BMC championship trophies (2004, 2005) and six second-place team finishes (2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012) to their credit.
 
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a comprehensive university with more than 2,500 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. The university offers 34 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, physician assistant studies and sports administration and doctorates in pharmacy and education.
 
Wingate students gain the tools and support they need to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. The campus community offers in-class learning, out-of-class experiences, strong mentors, a competitive yet caring environment and rewarding community service opportunities for a complete educational experience.
 
Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past five years.
 
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 42 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 51 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.