Men's Swimming | 10/28/2016 6:04:00 PM

Wingate, N.C.----The Queens University of Charlotte Royals finished one-two in the 400 Freestyle Relay, rallying for a 105-100 NCAA Division II men's swimming victory over Wingate University at the WU Natatorium Friday night. Queens is the number two team in the NCAA Division II, while Wingate is the number 13 squad. The Royals are two-time defending national champions (complete results).

"I couldn't have asked for a better beginning for our season," Wingate head men's swimming coach Kirk Sanocki says. "A win would have been better, but with the number of first-time competitors we had tonight…I would say this is one of our best starts in recent memory on the men's side."
 
Wingate was victorious in four individual events Friday. Senior Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany) led the Bulldogs, winning the 200 and 100 Freestyles with times of 1:40.50 and 46.15, respectively. Klüver's 200 Freestyle victory was also an individual pool record time.
 
Senior Mehdi Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) took home the gold medal in the 50 Freestyle with a 21.47 clocking. WU junior Tripp Wright (Cypress, Texas) and senior Lucas Cuadros (Cali, Columbia) both tied for the second-place finish in the 50 Freestyle with times of 21.78.
 
Sophomore Nathan Kimbel (Yorktown, Va.) earned the individual crown in the 100 Breaststroke with a clocking of 57.57. Freshman Leo Zabudkin (Frankfurt, Germany) finished as the runner-up behind Kimbel with a time of 58.04 in his first collegiate meet. Freshman Ben Evans (Dover, England) took home the silver medal in both the 1000 Freestyle (9:44.65) and 500 Freestyle (4:42.98) in his first collegiate races as a Bulldog.
 
Queens junior Dion Dreesens (Venray, Netherlands) was the 1000 Freestyle individual champion and earned a pool record with his triumphant time of 9.26.36. Royals junior Nicholas Arakelian (Livonia, Mich.) claimed first-place in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 1:49.95, which was also good for a pool record.
 
The number nine Wingate women will venture to Queens Saturday morning for a top 10 showdown with the number two Royals at 11 a.m. Queens will provide a live video stream. Both Bulldog teams are in action next Friday and Saturday for a quad meet at the Mecklenburg County Aquatics Center in Charlotte. The host Bulldogs will welcome the Lenoir-Rhyne University Bears, the Catawba College Indians and the Limestone College Saints to the event.
 
(Wingate University athletic media relations/sports network student assistant Jackson Kaplan contributed this article. A sophomore from Raleigh, Kaplan is a Communication Studies major at Wingate. He is the son of Harrison and Dona Kaplan.)