Women's Swimming | 1/15/2016 8:52:00 PM

Wingate, N.C.----Wingate University senior Julie Wessler (Sprockhövel, Germany) celebrated her final meet in the Wingate Natatorium with three victories (two individual, one relay) as the host Bulldogs defeated Bluegrass Mountain Conference rival Catawba College 111-62 in a dual meet Friday night. The Bulldog family celebrated Senior Night by honoring nine seniors during the meet's first break (meet results).
 
Wessler won the 1000 Freestyle (10:34.84) and the 500 Freestyle (5:11.64) before concluding her evening by swimming the third leg on Wingate's triumphant 400 Freestyle Relay quartet (3:42.59). Bulldog seniors Armony Dumur (Amiens, France) and Ana Fish (Carthage, N.C.) also won three times each with matching portfolios of one individual victory and two relay wins.
 
"Tonight was all about the seniors," Wingate head men's and women's swimming coach Kirk Sanocki says. "This is the only time during the year…when our entire focus for the last month of the season is sending them off in style."
 
 "I feel so proud of our nine seniors," Sanocki says. "It is awesome how our team, area alumni and the campus community comes out to support them during their final competition in the Cannon Athletic Complex. We should be happy tonight, but we are sad…knowing this is the beginning of the end for a very special group of people."
 
Wingate won eight of the 11 contested events. Dumur won the 100 Freestyle (54.65) and swam the inaugural leg on the 400 Freestyle Relay. The two-time NCAA national champion started the night by swimming the third leg as the Bulldogs won the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:52.78.
 
Fish's individual victory was achieved in the 50 Freestyle (24.12). She swan the anchor leg on both relays. Bulldog juniors Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) and Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) won one individual event each. Arkhipova touched first in the 200 Freestyle (1:56.36), while Petrenko won the 200 Individual Medley (2:07.88).
 
Next on the Wingate agenda is a visit to the University of South Carolina Friday and Saturday to race the Gamecocks, Queens and Gardner-Webb. Wingate hosts the Bluegrass Mountain Conference (BMC) meet in the Rock Hill Aquatics Center Feb. 10-13.
 
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
 
Wingate University, consistently ranked as a top 10 "best value" in the South by U.S. News & World Report, serves more than 3,100 students on three campuses in Wingate, Charlotte and Hendersonville, N.C. Founded in 1896, the University offers 35 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, master's degrees in business, accounting, education, physician assistant studies and sport management and doctorates in pharmacy, physical therapy and education.
 
With a 15 to 1 student/teacher ratio, Wingate students gain the tools and support needed to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. To view current news, video and story ideas, visit www.youtube.com/wingateuniversity. 
 
In addition to a robust intramural athletics program, Wingate student athletes compete in 22 NCAA Division II sports. The University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past nine years. For more information, go to www.wingate.edu.
 
Wingate is first among NCAA Division II Academic All-America®-producing colleges in the 2000's with 82 selections. Among North Carolina's colleges and universities, Wingate's 82 Academic All-America® honorees are number one during this millennium. Wingate's 91 lifetime Academic All-America® picks are tops among all SAC schools. For more information on WU athletics, go to www.wingatebulldogs.com.