Nova Southeastern
The Fourth Annual NSU Sharks Invitational began with a bang after two NCAA Division II automatic qualifying times were posted in the women's 1000-yard freestyle finals on Saturday night at the NSU Aquatic Complex. Florida Southern's Alli Crenshaw posted the top time of 10:00.44 setting a new Shark Invitational meet record, while Tampa's Heather Glenday finished second with the second automatic qualifying time of 10:01.75.
Those scores helped the Tampa and Florida Southern women's teams to second and third place respectively behind NCAA Division I Florida International after the first day of competition. FIU leads the pack with 291.5 points. The Nova Southeastern University women's team is currently fourth with 165.5 points through eight events.
On the men's side, Tampa came out strong very early in the meet and currently lead the meet with 259.5 points. Florida Southern (306.5) is a close second, but the Nova Southeastern University men are not far behind with a strong hold on to third place with 209 points.
Individually for NSU, Sara Akoubian (Sr., Run Dacula, Ga.) posted her first NCAA provisional qualifying time in the women's 1000-yard freestyle finishing 21st overall in the time finals at 10:31.49. On the men's side, Florian Mehlan (Sr., Moers, Germany) earned his first NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time in the 1000-free with a time of 9:34.33 and finished fifth overall.
Lauren Chapple (Jr., London, England) made the championship final after an impressive run in prelims in the women's 200-yard individual medley. She finished third overall with a provisional qualifying time of 2:08.46. NSU's Marco Aldabe (Fr., Alicante, Spain) followed with a provisional qualifying time of 1:50.52 and a second place finish on the men's side, followed by Oscar Aldabe (Sr., Alicante, Spain) who finished third with another provisional qualifying time of 1:51.85. Florida Southern's Luis Rojas won the event for the second consecutive time and set a new Shark Invitational meet record in the event at 1:49.44.
In the 50-yard freestyle, NSU's Emma Lawrenz (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) finished tied for fifth overall with a provisional qualifying time of 24.17 during the women's championship final. In the men's 50-free, Esau Simpsonfinished third in the championship final with a provisional qualifying time of 209.83. Saint Leo's Matheus Assis set a new Shark Invitational meet record after winning the event during prelims with an automatic qualifying time of 20.02. He also swam a time of 20.30 to win the championship finals.
In the women's 200-yard medley relay, Florida Southern's A-relay team finished on top with a provisional qualifying time of 1:45.49, while Tampa's A-relay men's team finished first with a provisional qualifying time of 1:29.23 to round out the first day of competition.
Florida Tech
Florida Tech helped kick off the four-day, 10-team Shark Invitational on Saturday at the NSU Aquatic Center. Through eight events, the men are fourth and the women are eighth.
“It is great to see the team performing well,” head coach Jeni Ritter said. “There is a lot of fast competition and this is an important step in preparing for our conference championships in February. We hope to continue to use the momentum from today over the next several days.”
In the opening race, Ferruccio Rossi tied for seventh with Florida Southern’s Jesus Marin in the 1,000-yard freestyle at 9:38.23. Rossi’s time eclipsed the program’s previous best mark of 9:40.47, held by Zac Paryzek since Feb. 13, 2013. Takashi Worrell finished right behind his teammate in ninth at 9:45.59.
Nathan Hufnagel also placed among the top swimmers in his race, the 200-yard IM. The Marietta, Ga. native just missed recording an NCAA B cut time by eight hundredths of a second in the A Final. He placed sixth at a new program clip of 1:52.79.
In the B Final, Camden Johnston and Brian Dumont finished second and third at 1:55.64 and 1:57.21, respectively. Tyler Phelps nabbed sixth at 1:58.66 and Victor Westerland was the ninth swimmer to touch the pad at 1:59.22.
Nir Barnea also came close to a NCAA B cut time in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.14, good for third in the B Final.
Hufnagel teamed up with Kaikea Nakachi, Westerlund and Barnea for a seventh-place finish out of 21 teams in the 200-yard medley relay at 1:35.65, another new program record.
On the women’s side, Lauren Suarez led the 25th-ranked Panther women with a new program best time of 24.25 in the 50-yard freestyle B Final. Her time was the second fastest in the final and it nearly missed the NCAA B cut time by two-hundredths of a second.
Shelby Pearce placed sixth in the B Final of the 200-yard IM at 2:11.96. She then joined Schelli Linz, Liana Soileau and Suarez in the 200-yard medley relay, earning 18th-place at 1:55.05.
Eighth-ranked Tampa has the early lead in the men’s standings with 359.5 points. Top-ranked Florida Southern (306.5) is second followed by 10th-ranked Nova Southeastern (209), FIT (129), 14th-ranked Saint Leo (104), Rollins (35), Lenoir-Rhyne (15) and Bellarmine (7).
NCAA Division I Florida International holds a 16-point lead over the 11th-ranked Tampa women, 291.5 to 275.5. Fourth-ranked Florida Southern (235.5) is second followed by 14th-ranked Nova Southeastern (165.5), Rollins (63), Lynn (59), Saint Leo (30), FIT (20), Lenoir-Rhyne (15) and Bellarmine (10).
