Women's Swimming | 10/29/2016 12:51:00 PM

Charlotte, N.C.-----The defending national champion Queens University of Charlotte Royals earned a 141-64 NCAA Division II women's swimming victory over the Wingate University Bulldogs Saturday at the Levine Center. The host Royals took home gold medals in 10 out of 11 events. Queens is the number two team in NCAA Division II, while Wingate is the number nine squad (complete results).

"This was a great opportunity for our new swimmers to see what competition at the highest level of our division requires," Wingate head women's swimming coach Kirk Sanocki says. "Throwing them into the fire to start the season will pay major dividends down the road as our leaders will help them come along. I'm very optimistic this team will progress throughout the year and we will once again look to perform at a high level come conference and NCAA championships."
 
Bulldog junior Alex Divelbiss (Pueblo, Colo.) claimed the gold medal in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 2:05.94. Senior Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) and freshman Abby Kosic (West Chester, Pa.) took home the second and third individual spots in the 100 Backstroke with clockings of 57.30 and 59.27, respectively.
 
WU senior Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) and graduate student Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia) earned the silver and bronze medals in the 100 Breaststroke with times of 1:04.39 and 1:05.12, respectively. Senior Caitlin Coughlin (Cochranville, Pa.) and sophomore Maria Madsen (Dragoer, Denmark) placed second (24.81) and third (24.99) individually in the 50 freestyle.
 
Queens junior Alexandra Marshall (Winston Salem, N.C.) touched first in the 50 Freestyle (24.00) and 100 Butterfly (57.06) to lead the Royals. QUC senior Hannah Peiffer (Hixson, Tenn.) was the individual champion in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 56.40. She also touched second in the 100 Butterfly with a 57.75 clocking. Sophomore Josefina Lorda-Taylor (La Pampa, Argentina) earned the gold in the 500 Freestyle (5:01.77) and the silver medal in the 200 Individual Medley (2:06.14).
 
Both Wingate University swimming 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.)