Article Contributed by East Carolina Aquatics

 

The East Carolina Aquatics Men’s Team was crowned champions for the first time at the 2014 N.C. Senior Long Course State Championships.            The meet was held July 24-27 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The Men successfully defended their title from the 2014 NC Short Course Championship meet in February by accumulating 557 points, over 200 points more than their closest competitor. The team fell just short of the combined men/women victory by only 30 points to take second overall.

ECA won several events and set multiple team records over the course of the weekend.

ECA had several top four individual performances. Philip Perdue led the charge for ECA by winning the 100, 200 and 400 freestyle events. He set a team record in the 200 free with a time of 1:54.00. He placed fourth in the 50 free, clocking 23.98, a new 15-18-team record. Perdue also anchored the winning 400 free, 800 free and 400 medley relays. Rokus Cepulis won the 100 breast and 200 IM. Cepulis broke his own team record in the preliminaries of the 200 breast, but had an unfortunate false start disqualification in the finals. Andre Smedstad finished second in the 100 back. Bobby Bitner placed third in the 100 fly, while Dalton Shaw placed third in the 200 IM and fourth in the 200 breast. ECA newcomer Bradley Downs, 15, had an outstanding meet, reaching the finals in every event and placing eighth in the 100 fly and 100 free.

Other event finalists include Kelly Barnhill, JT Casey, Zach Darden, Bradley Downs, Trey Pofahl, Eyan Eagle, Cameron Pou and Dan Woods.

Dominant performances in the relay events were key to the victory. The men’s A and B 400 free relay teams took first and second, respectively. The A relay team of Eagle, Darden, Cepulis, and Perdue set a new ECA senior record at 3:32.16. The B team of Bitner, Shaw, Casey and Downs clocked 3:34.15. The men’s A and B 800 free relays placed first and third. The A team of Eagle, Shaw, Pofahl and Perdue clocked 7:48.31, another 15-18-team record. The third-place B team of Bittner, Downs, Pou and Darden clocked 7:58.17. The A 400 medley of Smedstad, Cepulis, Bittner and Perdue won with at time of 3:51.87. The B team of Pou, Shaw, Woods and Eagle took fifth.

The ECA women had some strong performances as well. Megan Sellers swept both breaststroke events in team record times. Sellers clocked 1:11.29 in the 100 and 2:37.96 in the 200, swimming to commanding victories. Charlsie Lincoln placed seventh in the 100 and 200 breast. Emerson Barnhill placed sixth in the 100 free. Other finalists include Madison Baiotto and Cary Pou. The women’s 800 free relay of Pou, Baiotto, Barnhill and Lincoln placed sixth.

East Carolina Aquatics is a year-round swim team for youth and adults ages 4 and up, with over 450 swimmers in Greenville, Morehead City, Cape Carteret, and Washington locations.