INFO | Conference Carolinas women's swimming poll presser
 
Greenville, S.C.----The Wingate University women's swimming team is picked to win the Conference Carolinas championship meet, league officials announce this week. In voting by the league's 11 head coaches, the Wingate women claimed seven first-place votes and 105 points.
 
Five schools, Catawba, Carson-Newman, Lenoir-Rhyne, Mars Hill and Wingate, are new to the Conference Carolinas this year as associate members in men's and women's swimming. Wingate won four-of-four South Atlantic Conference men's championships while the SAC sponsored swimming.
 
In the 2026-27 poll, Catawba was picked second with 80 points and two first-place votes. UNC Pembroke collected the final first-place vote and 73 points to land in third. Carson-Newman came in fourth with 72 points, while Emmanuel (Ga.) and Lenoir-Rhyne are tied for fifth with 62 points each.
 
Conference Carolinas Swimmers to Watch
 
In addition to the preseason poll announcement, the Conference Carolinas honored student-athletes from each school as Swimmers to Watch. Wingate's honorees are:
 
Women
Elizabete Ozola, junior team captain                  
Livia Kingsland, junior
Emma Tomasoni, freshman
 
Ozola was an NCAA Division II All-American in two relay races last season. Kingsland earned a bronze medal in the SAC 1650 Freestyle in 2025. Tomasoni is one of nine WU newcomers looking to make an impact this season.
 
Next on the Agenda

Wingate opens its 2026-27 season October 9-10, venturing to Michigan for the Grand Valley State University Invitational. The Bulldogs open the home portion of the 2026-27 schedule on Friday, October 16, hosting league foe Catawba for a 1 p.m. dual meet.
 
Looking back at 2025-26
 
- The Bulldogs swept the SAC championships for the fourth time, winning both titles
- WU alumna Natalia Dwojak ('26) was voted SAC women's Swimmer of the Year
- Dwojak received the prestigious SOTY award for the second straight season
- The WU women finished 11th of 35 schools who scored points at the '26 NCAAs
- The Bulldog men took seventh of 31 teams who tallied points at the '26 NCAAs
 
Wingate Swimming quick facts
 
- Wingate has 45 NCAA national championship swims lifetime (31 women, 14 men)
- At NCAAs, the WU women have earned second place once (2016) and third twice
- The 'Dogs have earned fifth place at NCAA men's meet once with five sixth-place showings
- WUSWIM student-athletes have earned Academic All-America® honors 41 times
- WU won 11 Bluegrass Mountain Conference crowns (seven men's, four women's) while BMC members

Wingate University
 
Wingate University is a lab of difference-making that serves more than 3,600 students in North Carolina and offers 60 degree pathways, including 37 undergraduate majors, 10 pre-professional tracks and five dual-degree programs. Graduate students choose from seven master's and five doctoral programs. The University is home to the Cannon College of Arts and Sciences, the Levine College of Health Sciences, the Byrum School of Business, the Thayer School of Education and the School of Sport Sciences.
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a leader in healthcare education where nearly one in five undergraduate students is preparing to be a pharmacist, physician assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist or nurse. Student-athletes on Wingate's 30 teams compete in NCAA Division II and have brought home the SAC Echols Athletic Excellence Award the past 18 times it has been awarded. The University's motto is "Faith, Knowledge, Service." View current news and videos at www.wingate.edu.
 
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