In a strong showing in their return to the NSU Aquatic Complex on Thursday afternoon, the Nova Southeastern University men's and women's swimming teams fell to national power Indian River State College. Challenged from the opening event, the NSU women (3-1) suffered their first dual meet loss of the season 137-68 to IRSC, while the NSU men (2-2) lost 125-80.
Indian River proved their national dominance in Thursday's meet by winning 10 of the 11 women's events and eight of the 11 men's events. Despite IRSC competitive efforts, several NSU swimmers managed to post personal best times and even set one NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time.
Although he finished second in the 400-yard individual medley, freshman Marco Aldabe (Alicante, Spain) secured a provisional qualifying time of 4:04.87 making the cut by .02 seconds. This is the second provisional qualifying time for Aldabe this season to go along with his qualifying time in the 200-yard backstroke at the All-Florida Invitational. He also posted a win in the men's 100-yard backstroke event with a time of 51.20.
Competing in just her second event of the year, Laura Gutierrez (Fr., Valencia, Spain) posted solid performances in the both the women's 400-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly. In 100-fly she won with a time of 57.88 missing the provisional cut by .04 seconds and finished second in the 400-IM with a time of 4:33.73.
The Sharks men managed to secure the one-two punch by winning the top two spots in both the 1,650-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. Andrew Pittman (Fr., Plano, Texas) secured the top spot in the mile with a time of 16:27.12, while Addison Cates (Jr., Port Charlotte, Fla.) finished second in the same event at 16:29.42. In the men's 100-yard free, teammates Shane Kleinbeck (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) and Esau Simpson (Sr., St. David's, Grenada) fought for first place. Kleinbeck managed to pull out a .20 win with a time of 46.90, while Simpson finished second at 47.10.
The Sharks will return to action later this month when they host Sunshine State Conference rival and women's defending conference champion Tampa at the NSU Aquatic Complex at 10 a.m. on Nov. 23.
