Women's Swimming | 1/14/2017 5:47:00 PM

Salisbury, N.C.----The nationally-ranked Wingate University swimming teams swept a dual meet over Catawba College Saturday at the Johnson Pool. The number seven Wingate women won 116-69, while the number 11 Bulldog men claimed a 117-81 decision. Wingate freshman Ebba Stillman (Huskvarna, Sweden) won two individual events for the visitors (complete results).
 
"I loved the bounce-back effort after a long intense meet at Gardner-Webb last night," Wingate head men's and women's swimming coach Kirk Sanocki says. "The team continues to show steady progress each week. The coaches are looking forward to the next four weeks gearing up for our Bluegrass Mountain Conference championships."
 
#7 Wingate women 116, Catawba 69
 
Stillman took the checkered flag in the 200 Freestyle (1:56.29) and the 100 Butterfly (58.31). Bulldog junior Mariona Espinalt (Barcelona, Spain) also claimed two gold medals with one individual win and one relay victory. Espinalt started her day by swimming the first leg on Wingate's triumphant 200 Medley Relay quartet (1:51.11).
 
Espinalt was joined by graduate student Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia), senior Caitlin Coughlin (Cochranville, Pa.) and freshman Jordan Clark (Katy, Texas). Later in the afternoon, Espinalt touched first in the 100 Backstroke with her triumphant time of 1:00.89.
 
Wingate freshman Mathilde Cros (Pont de L'arn, France) won the grueling 1000 Freestyle with her time of 10:51.63. In the 200 Individual Medley, two Bulldog newcomers tied for first place. Freshmen Charlotte Knippenburg (Atlanta, Ga.) and Katharina Vos (Zschopay, Germany) both posted times of 2:13.64.
 
#11 Wingate men 117, Catawba 81
 
The Bulldogs won four individual events and one relay race Saturday at Catawba. Wingate freshman Ben Evans (Dover, England) got things started with a victory in the 1000 Freestyle. Evans posted a time of 9:48.48. Senior Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany) won the next individual event, touching first in the 200 Freestyle with his triumphant time of 1:43.32.
 
Klüver concluded his last visit to Catawba by helping the Bulldogs win the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:28.52). Klüver swam the third leg. He was joined by three freshmen: Ryan Capote (Miramar, Fla.), Niclas Geyer (Wuenschdorf, Germany) and Tim Stewart (Marietta, Ga.).
 
Wingate redshirt sophomore Lennart Queiss (Langen, Germany) claimed the gold medal in the 100 Freestyle with his 47.81 clocking. For the second day in a row, sophomore Camden Wunderlich (Snohomish, Wash.) won the 500 Freestyle. He posted a time of 4:52.47 at Catawba Saturday.

The Bulldogs will host an Alumni Meet Saturday, Jan. 21 at 1 p.m. In addition to the competition, the Wingate family will honor nine seniors swimming in their last season in the Navy Blue and Vegas Gold. In addition to Kosheleva, Coughlin and Klüver, Wingate's senior class includes Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia), Erika Kaspersson (Eslöv, Sweden), Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.), Lucas Cuadros (Cali, Colombia), Øystein Fjeldberg (Oslo, Norway) and Mehdi Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium).