Golden Tiger swim team wins awards at AAC Championships

Athlete swimmingThe Golden Tigers swimming and diving team won two awards and two Appalachian Athletic Conference records as they placed second at the AAC Championships held on Feb. 13-15 in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Hanne te Velthuis, from Beerzerveld in the Netherlands, was named AAC Co-Swimmer of the Year while head coach Nate Rhoads earned AAC Coach of the Year honors for the second year in a row. Te Velthuis won the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles.

In addition, te Velthuis, Yanne Toussaint, Bayley Blackmon and Nikoletta Alvanou won the 400 relay with a time of 3:37.37, almost a full second faster than the previous record set by Ashbury (Kentucky) University in 2018. Ashbury won this year’s AAC Championship with a 662-618 score over Brenau. The Golden Tigers also set a new record in the 200 freestyle relay, beating their record from the previous year by 1.79 seconds. Members of that relay included Blackmon, Haley Bartoletta, Toussaint and te Velthuis.

Brenau finished the event with eight individual and three relay titles. Toussaint won the 100 and 200 backstrokes and 200 individual medley while the team of Blackmon, Toussaint, Bartoletta and te Velthuis earned first place in the 200 medley relay. Blackman also took first in the 100 butterfly and Alvanou won the 400 individual medley.

Next up for the Golden Tigers will be the NAIA Championships, held from March 4-7 in Knoxville, Tennessee.