The Florida Gator men's and women's teams responded from a slow morning to sweep all 14 swimming events and 15 of 16 events overall on the second day of competition at the Pinch A Penny All Florida Invitational.
Sophomores Corey Main (Auckland, New Zealand) and Sinead Russell (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) each won the 100 backstroke and 200 freestyle to lead their respective teams. The Gators witnessed a dramatic improvement in times from the morning to the evening sessions, which resulted in 8 NCAA provisional cuts, giving the Gators 14 NCAA B cuts through two days.
Scores: Both Gator teams are in first place. The women lead second place Florida State 730-534. The men lead second place FSU 841-658.
Sound Bites: "I was very disappointed in our team's morning performance. It was very lackluster. Tonight, after I talked about the corrections that they needed to make, we were very enthusiastic and aggressive with our swims. Outstanding performances and lots of doubles, but the problem is that they have to understand that you have to do this in the morning because that is how the end of the year is structured. The purpose of this meet was to learn about the end of the year, so hopefully we learned a lot from today."- Head Coach Gregg Troy
"Corey Main was a late addition to our team last year and is just now hitting stride. Sinead Russell was very good today and is a phenomenal athlete and racer. Elizabeth Beisel (North Kingstown, Rhode Island) was good tonight. She doesn't like not touching the wall first, but we're swimming her in different places that aren't her expertise because we want to see younger people swim. Lindsey McKnight (Coral Springs, Fla.) and Natalie Hinds (Midland, Texas) had some great swims tonight. I'm interested to see how we can learn and improve from here."-Head Coach Gregg Troy
Clean Sweeps: The Gator men's 400 individual medley put together a clean sweep, taking first through fourth. Red-shirt senior Sebastien Rousseau (Cape Town, South Africa) registered a first place performance in 3:49.29 and was trailed in order by junior Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (Madrid, Spain-3:49.47), junior Matt Elliott (Peoria, Ill.-3:55.73) and senior Connor Signorin (East Windsor, N.J.-3:56.95). The Gators repeated the feat in the 200 free, as Main (1:37.69) paved the way and was followed by junior Dan Wallace (North Berwick, Scotland- 1:38.61), senior Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland-1:39.06) and freshman Mitch D'Arrigo (Rome, Italy- 1:39.17).
First to the Wall:
* McKnight kicked off the individual portion of the finals with a victory in the 400 IM, winning in 4:21.51.
* Hinds captured the 100 butterfly with a mark of 53.91.
* Cieslak earned victory in the 100 fly (47.36).
* Russell won the first of her two events, the 200 free, in a time of 1:48.16. She brought home the 100 back win in 54.40.
* Main added a win in the 100 back (47.70).
* Senior Hilda Luthersdottir (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland) touched first in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.26)
* Elliott placed first in the 100 breast (55.52).
Relay Magic: For the second consecutive day, the Gators swept all four relay events. To kick off the final session, the women's 200 medley group of Russell, Luthersdottir, Hinds and senior Ellese Zalewski (Melbourne, Australia) touched in 1:41.99. The men's foursome of Main, Elliott, Rousseau and deBorde followed up with a victory in the same event in 1:28.75
To cap off a perfect day for the women, the Gators delivered a 1-2 finish in the 800 free relay. Zalewski, McKnight, Russell and Beisel posted a time of 7:19.27 and were followed in second by freshman Danielle Valley (Bradenton, Fla.), Hinds, sophomore Ashlee Linn (Sarasota, Fla.), and sophomore Taylor Roy (Woodstock, Ga.). The men equaled the women's 800 free finish, tallying a 1-2 finish. In the first race in the event since winning the 2013 NCAA title, the 800 free group of Wallace, junior Carlos Omana (Miami, Fla.), Rousseau and Main came home first in 6:32.82 and were followed by Signorin, D'Arrigo, Cieslak and Solaeche-Gomez.
Postseason Focus:
* Rousseau- 400 IM (3:49.29)
* Solaeche-Gomez- 400 IM (3:49.47)
* Hinds- 100 fly (53.91)
* Cieslak- 100 fly (47.36)
* Main- 200 free (1:37.69), 100 back (47.70)
* Russell- 100 back (54.40)
* Beisel- 100 back (54.54)
Springboard Action: Sophomore Kahlia Warner (Queensland, Australia) captured her second consecutive victory. After winning the three-meter on Friday with a score of 322.45, Warner won the one-meter with a total of 300.45.
Both the men’s and women’s Florida State swimming teams contributed a combined five second place finishes on the second day of the Pinch A Penny All-Florida Invitational at the O’Connell Center at the University of Florida.
The Seminoles are holding in second place, with the women tallying 534 point and the men posting a total of 658. Both teams trail the host squad, Florida.
“The one challenge for today was just to be really aggressive in races and getting out of those comfort zones,” head coach Frank Bradley said. “I knew they would be challenged in some events, but we showed some speed and l think our team knows they have more in the tank than they think.”
The women started the session off with a three-four punch in the 200 medley relay. The team of Bianca Spinazzola, Sami Pochowski, Chelsea Britt and Kaitlyn Dressel posted a time of 1:43.31, ahead of the foursome of Ashley Hicks, Morgan Stephenson, Mary Elizabeth King and Tiffany Oliver (1:46.80).
Pavel Sankovich, Jared Pike, Connor Knight and Paul Murray followed with a second place finish of their own, posting a mark of 1:29.90.
“The 200 medley had great combinations on the women’s side,” Bradley said. “I thought men’s relay was strong. As we move forward with this event there is a lot of promise and I think by the end of the year, this could be one of our strongest relays on both sides.”
Julia Henkel captured second place in the 400 IM with a time of 4:24.23. Freshman Caroline Neil was also in the final field, she took sixth with a mark of 4:34.15.
In the men’s 400 IM, the Seminoles grabbed places five through eight with Juan Sequera leading, posting a mark of 3:57.75. Mike Thomas followed in sixth at 4:00.54, Kyle Doxtater clocked a 4:03.68 for seventh and Jack Deedrick came in eighth with a time of 4:11.49.
Moving on to the 100 fly, Britt (56.81), Spinazzola (57.26) and King (57.76) placed sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. In the men’s final heat, Sankovich finished in second with a time of 48.33 while Knight placed fourth at 49.21. Cole Hensley took sixth with a mark of 49.91 and Cadell Lyons finished eighth at 50.82.
Dressel and Jacobi gave another three-four punch, as the Dressel posted time of 1:50.23 just ahead of Jacobi at 1:50.71. Pochowski was sixth with a 1:53.33 readout.
In the men’s 200 free final, Kevin Rogers took fifth with a time of 1:39.51 after swimming a 1:38.64 in prelims. Jemal Legrand swam a mark of 1:41.58, good enough for sixth while Robert Swanbeck touched in eight at 1:43.17 following his morning swim of 1:41.98.
Swimming her third event on the night, Pochowski placed second in the 100 breast with a time of 1:03.79. Stepheson was fourth at 1:06.81 and Dressel took eighth with a mark of 1:08.80.
Four Seminoles finished the 100 breast within a second of each other as Jason Coombs grabbed a second place of his own, swimming a time of 56.04. He out-touched Richie Hildebrand who was third with a time of 56.10. Alex Rodriguez was fifth 56.71, just in front of Pike at 56.77.
“I thought the men’s breaststroke swam pretty well,” Bradley said. “I think the last week has taken the toll on them but I was very encouraged to see where they are.”
In the women’s 100 back, Spinazzola (56.98), McKayla Lightborn (57.46) and Hicks (58.72) took sixth, seventh and eighth.
Sankovich swam a 48.13 for second place in the 100 back, while Josh Friedel came in sixth with a mark of 50.50.
The session closed with the 800 free relay where both the women and men took third.
Dressel, Jacobi, Pochowski and Henkel swam a total time of 7:31.08 before Rogers, Swanbeck, Legrand and Knight posted a 6:48.29.
After the second day of competition at the 4th Annual Pinch-A-Penny All-Florida Invitational hosted by the University of Florida, the Nova Southeastern University men's team fell back one spot in the team standings and is currently fourth with 319 points, while the women have 96 points in seventh place.
One of the Shark newcomers made a splash on the second day by winning two B-final events. Freshman Marco Aldabe (Alicante, Spain) won both the men's open 400-yard IM and the men's 200-yard freestyle events to pace the Sharks. In the 400-yard IM, he cut nearly five seconds off his morning prelim swim and finished with a time of 4:05.05 in the afternoon final and he finished nearly two seconds better in the 200-yard free.
The afternoon finals opened with men's and women's 200-yard medley relay timed finals. The NSU women finished 10th with Emma Wahlstrom (Fr., Stockholm, Sweden), Sammy Akoubian (Sr., Run Dacula, Ga.), Nichole Schultz (Sr., Roseville, Calif.) and Alexandra Zatylny (Sr., Quebec, Canada) combining for a time of 1:54.11. On the men's side, Marco Aldabe,Thomas Aycart (Sr., Miami, Fla.), Magnus Lundgren (Jr., Stockholm, Sweden) and Shane Kleinbeck (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) finished less than a second behind conference rival Florida Southern in sixth place with a time of 1:36.49.
In the men's 100-yard butterfly, junior Santiago Pombo (Bogota, Columbia) was the top Sharks finishing 11th overall and third in the B-final with a time of 51.95, while Kleinbeck finished second behind Marco Aldabe in the B-final of the men's 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.61.
Four Sharks finished within three seconds of each other and claimed the top four spots in the B-final of the men's 100-yard breaststroke. Aycart paced the breaststrokers with a time of 1:00.98 to win the heat, followed by Jonathan Key (Sr., Biltmore Lakes, N.C.) at 1:02.56, Patrick Hayes (So., Jacksonville, Fla.) at 1:03.07 and Cheyenne Rodriguez (Fr., North Baby Village, Fla.) at 1:03.15.
On the women's side, Wahlstrom turned in a time of 1:00.45 in the women's 100-yard backstroke and finished 11th overall and third in the B-final.
The second day ended with the men's and women's 800-yard freestyle relay. The women's relay team of Lauren Chapple (Jr., London, England), Jessica Rocheleau (Jr., Jacksonville, Fla.), Kathleen Bowman (So., Iowa City, Iowa) and Wahlstrom outdistanced conference rival Florida Southern by nearly two seconds finishing the timed finals in eighth-place with a time of 8:05.38, while the men's relay of Kleinbeck, Marco Aldabe, John Michael Hayes (Sr., Jacksonville, Fla.) and Florian Mehlan (Sr., Moers, Germany) swam a time of 6:58.49 to finish sixth.
