Florida State Men, Alabama Women Get Wins

The Florida State men’s swimming and diving team christened the Morcom Aquatic Center on Saturday with a victory against Alabama 179.5-120.5.  On the women's side it was Alabama winning 157-143 in a meet that came down to diving.

“Our teams really battled today,” FSU head coach Neil Harper said.  “We are excited with the way both the men and women are responding to their training.  We are working them hard and they are still able to get out there and race fast against a good team like Alabama.”

“Today was great and to race in a pool like this is fantastic,” junior Andy Hodgson said.  “To come out with good crowd support made it a lot of fun to race.”

“We got off to a sluggish start, but rebounded well and got better as the meet went on,” head coach Eric McIlquham said. “It was a hard fought meet on both sides. For the women, when a meet is that close obviously every event was important, every place, not just the wins, was crucial.”

Alabama’s women go to 3-0 on the season while the men are now 1-1 while FSU’s women fall to 4-1 and the men go to 2-0.

The women’s meet was tied 131-131 when the swimming events were tallied, but a 1-2-3 sweep of the one-meter diving event by the Tide coupled with freshman Carrie Dragland’s win off the three-meter board gave the Tide a 14 point victory. Dragland, sophomore Baylee Ellson and junior Elizabeth Hughes swept the top-3 spots off the one-meter. Dragland, who won both boards in the Tide’s season opener as well, took top honors off the three-meter with 288.98 points and the one-meter with 275.48.

“Our divers were clutch today, giving us the boost we needed to come out on top,” McIlquham said. “Carrie Dragland had another very good day, and again, when we had to have every point, Carrie, Baylee and Elizabeth really came through.”

Alabama also went 1-2-3 in the 200 IM led by junior Agustina de Giovanni, who won three individual events on the day, followed by sophomore Kate Shannon Gray and junior Maggie Zblewski. De Giovanni won the 200 IM with a 2:02.50, the 200 breaststroke with a 2:15.14, and the 100 breaststroke at 1:03.53. In the 100 breaststroke she and Zblewski took first and second place respectively.

“Agustina looked very good today,” McIlquham said. “Not only did she win all her events but she showed a lot of speed along the way. Our women had a lot of good swims, including some career-best times and some that figure among our all-time top-10.”

Freshman Suzanne Schwee and sophomore Kacey Weddle posted a 1-2 finish of their own in the 200 butterfly with Schwee’s time of 2:02.10 putting her ninth all-time for the Crimson Tide. Schwee was also part of a 1-2 finish in the 100 butterfly, taking second behind sophomore Hannah Brinks, who took first with a 56.37.

The Tide women got the day started with a decisive win in the 200 medley relay when junior Allyson Angle, de Giovanni, Brinks and sophomore Ida Persson combined to post a 1:45.07 which put them nearly a second ahead of the field. Angle posted a career best time in the 200 backstroke later in the meet, touching at 2:02.31. Sophomore Cassie Craddock touched with a career-best 58.07 in the 100 backstroke to take second.

On the men’s side junior Mark Randall led the Tide with wins in the 500 and 1000 freestyles, beating FSU distance ace Kyle Young, who finished fifth in the 1500m freestyle at last summer’s United States Olympic Trials, in both races. Randall touched nearly four seconds head of Young in the 1000 with a 9:11.73. In the 500 he was six seconds ahead of Young and the field with a 4:24.77.

“Mark had another great meet,” McIlquham said. “He has really gotten this season off to a fast start. Both the 500 and 1000 races had five guys that have finished in the top-10 at the NCAA Championships, so those were some quality races. Riley also had a big day, picking up two wins and swimming strong.”

Junior Riley Boulden also had an outstanding day, winning the 200 breaststroke and 200 IM and taking second in the 100 breaststroke. Boulden turned in a 2:03.51 to win the breaststroke and a 1:53.51 to take first in the IM by more than two seconds.

Sophomore Denes Zubcsek also grabbed a win for the Tide, finishing nearly four seconds ahead of the field in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:49.20.

The Seminole men (2-0, 0-0) were paced by redshirt seniors Jarryd Botha and Ed Denton and junior Andy Hodgson, with all three winning two individual events.  Botha was victorious in the 100 back (50.60) and 100 fly (49.63), Denton swept the sprint events winning the 50 free (21.18) and 100 free (46.56) and Andy Hodgson won the 200 free (1:39.82) and 200 back (1:50.46).  The Seminoles also swept the diving events with junior Terry Horner winning the one-meter (379.50) and senior Scott Derner capturing the three-meter (331.05).  Even with all of the event wins, it was Florida State’s depth that helped lead the team to victory.

“We really emphasize depth,” Harper said.  “It isn’t necessarily who steps up and wins events it’s who finishes second, third or fourth and I think you saw that today.”

“I feel beat up and tired right now because of our training,” Hodgson said.  “We’re all beat up, but we’re still racing fast and doing really well which is exciting.”

Despite the loss for the women, FSU (4-1, 1-0) had some great peformances.  Junior Stevi Steinhauer, sophomore Jocelyn Phillips and freshman Stephanie Sarandos won two individual events with Steinhauer winning the 50 free (23.75) and 100 free(52.01),Phillips taking home wins in the 200 free (1:50.23) and 500 free (4:58.91) and Sarandos being victorious in the 100 back (56.59) and 200 back (2:00.71).  Alabama won on the strength of 1-2-3 finishes in one-meter diving and the 200 individual medley.

“I feel like our girls swam well enough to win,” Harper said.  “Watching them swim and compete I walk away from this meet thinking we did win.  I think we may have come away taking a few more steps forward with a tough loss rather than an easy win.”

The Seminoles will be home again next weekend at the Morcom Aquatic Center on Saturday, October 18, at 11:00 a.m. against against ACC rival Georgia Tech.   Alabama remains on the road for its next meet, facing Southeastern Conference rival LSU in Baton Rouge on November 7.