KINGSPORT, Tenn. – The Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) swim championships continued Friday inside the Kingsport Aquatic Center, marking day two of the three-day battle for the conference title. After an impressive first day that saw both teams take commanding leads, Milligan followed it up on day two. The men still hold the top spot with 700 points, exactly doubling University of Tennessee Southern's second place total of 350 points, and the women also remain in first place with 638 points.

Abigail Maniace set the tone for the day early on with a record-breaking performance in the 100-yard butterfly preliminaries with a time of 57.44. That mark is the fastest recorded time in the history of the AAC Championships.

The evening session's finals started with a victory for the women's 200 Freestyle Relay, where the Milligan quartet of Emily Dubes, Teagan Jose, Mary Grace Bitting and Madison Akbari finished with a time of 1:38.07.

On the men's side, Paxton Smith, Gellert Szedlak, Christoph Haenel and Caleb Fry started the evening with a first-place finish with a time of 1:22.47 in the 200 Freestyle Relay.

In the women's 400 Individual Medley, Peyton Brady managed a qualifying time for the NAIA National Championships with a second-place finish and a final mark of 4:45.17. Katelyn Williams finished right behind her in third place at 4:56.93.

For the men in the 400 Individual Medley, Nathaniel Halloran (4:07.78), Jack Allen (4:09.710) and Peter Gilbert (4:10.88) finished first, second and third.

After setting the record in preliminary round, Maniace returned in the evening round for a gold medal finish in the 100 Butterfly with a final time of 57.54. Akbari (58:00) was behind her in second place and Bitting nabbed third place at 59.09.

For the men, five Milligan swimmers made the provisional mark in the 100 Butterfly. The top five swimmers in the event were all Buffs in Haenel (48.95), RJ Brumit (49.84), Sergio Tudor (49.86), Wyatt Pierce (50.63) and Reef Parman (50.65).

In the women's 200 Freestyle, Riley Renaud had a first-place finish coming in at a pace of 1:55.71, while Emily Newman's 1:56.71 earned her second place.

Szedlak led all swimmers in the men's 200 Freestyle at 1:41.90. Jacob Miller reached the podium in third place with a provisional qualifying time of 1:45.4. There were two other Milligan finalists in the event, as Sergio Tudor (1:46.02) came in fourth place and Jayden Bearden (1:48.31) finished in sixth.

In the women's 100 Breaststroke, Jose finished in second place at 1:07.81. Jocelyn Waits (1:12.80) and Virginia Rainer (1:13.96) were also finalists capturing sixth and seventh place, respectively.

For the men in the 100 Breaststroke, the top four spots all belonged to Milligan. Fry earned the gold medal with a mark of 55.41. Robert Adam came in second with a 55.72 and Elijah Holliman finished in third at 56.52. Andrew Dawson also finished ahead of the provisional mark in fourth place at 56.60.

Five Milligan swimmers reached the finals in the 100 Backstroke. Abbie Christensen led all Buffs in the event in second place with a time of 58.74. Emily Dubes (59.16) followed in third and Mia Windham (59.46) beat the provisional mark in fourth.

For the men in the 100 Backstroke, Smith (50.41) and Brumit (51.70) grabbed first and second place finishes, while Collin Burnette (53.05) was in fourth place.

Milligan's women's 400 Medley Relay squad, composed of Christensen, Jose, Maniace and Akbari capped off the night with the top spot on the podium with a time of 3:57.84.

On the Men's side, the 400 Medley Relay team of Smith, Adam, Haenel and Fry set an AAC meet record at 3:21.98 to cap off the night with another gold medal.

The teams will continue with the morning session on Saturday, starting at 9 a.m., at the Kingsport Aquatic Center.

RESULTS