DANVILLE, Ky. --- The Bellarmine men's and women's swim teams had solid swims all around on Friday night while swimming against the Centre College in Boles Natatorium but the Colonels outlasted the Knights on both sides, winning 126-43 in the women's meet, and 121-52 in the men's.

“We are less than a month away from going to our conference meet,” stated Coach John Brucato, adding, “Everyone looks to be really hitting their groove out there and I was pretty pleased with how we swam.”

Brucato pointed out that Nathan Blaine set the pace in the early going, coming up just short in the 1000y freestyle by taking second with a time of 10:59.37. Blaine came back later in the meet to win the 500y freestyle, touching the wall with a time of 5:19.08, right at his season-best.

Amanda Forti turned in strong performances while winning the 200y freestyle (2:02.70) and a runner-up finish in the 500y free (5:35.05). Sophomore Alex Caneris was BU's top finisher in the 200y IM and 100y breaststroke while Mallory Kramer took home second in the 50y freestyle.

The most exciting race of the night came in the 200y IM where Trent Mattingly and Centre's Spencer Vetter went stroke-for-stroke right off the blocks. Vetter edged out Mattingly by three-tenths of a second, but the Paul Laurence Dunbar product did post a season-best time of 2:04.93 in the event. Mattingly backed up that performance by also posting a season-best in the 100m breaststroke (1:02.04).

The Knights will have their final dual meet of the year next Saturday, traveling down I-64 to take on the Pioneers of Transylvania University. Bellarmine will wrap up their inaugural season Feb. 13-16 by swimming in the New South Intercollegiate Conference Championship in Cleveland, Miss.

Complete Results