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Tampa Women, Florida Southern Men Lead SSC Meet

Tampa

With day three of four complete at the 2014 Sunshine State Conference Swimming Championships, the University of Tampa women remain on top as the Spartan men are within striking distance in third place.

Tampa women now hold first place by 66 points, accumulating 621 total points through the first 26 events. Florida Southern (555), Nova Southeastern (430), Florida Tech (263), Saint Leo (250), Rollins (216) and Lynn (186) are also competing.

On the men's side, Florida Southern is the overall leader with 653 points. Nova Southeastern and Tampa occupy second and third place with 528 and 526 points respectively. Florida Tech (292), Saint Leo (218) and Rollins (157) make up the rest of the field.

The Spartans opened the finals with a second-place effort in the women's 200 Medley Relay. The team of Danielle Bach, Alex Hipolito, Emily Grams and Marisa Barton logged a time of 1:45.47.

Hipolito would become the SSC champion in the next event, the 400 IM. The senior had a time of 4:24.49 as teammate Lexi Webb was third in the race at 4:31.77. In the men's 400 IM, Zane Hranac was third with an effort of 3:57.89.

Catherine Parker added the second SSC individual title of the evening for Tampa's women, championing the 100 Fly with a time of 56.10.

Senior Heather Glenday earned 16 points for the Spartans with a third-place finish in the 200 Free as her time was registered at 1:51.69. In the men's 200 Free, Damen Pheiffer was also third, as his time was 1:38.89.

Philip Nordenberg added a third-place finish for Tampa in the 100 Breast, clocking a 55.88 time in the race.

Tampa's men would conclude the night with an SSC championship from senior Karl Burdis. He captured the 100 Back in a time of 48.37 as teammate Runar Borgen was also third at 49.45.

In the individual rankings, Tampa's women have a pair of swimmers at the top in Briana Murphy (42) and Alex Hipolito (40). The duo head into the final day of competition in a close battle with Florida Southern's Alli Crenshaw (40).

The final day of competition will begin at 10 a.m., for the prelims, and conclude with the 5 p.m., finals. Saturday's events include the fastest heat of the 1,650, 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Fly and 400 Free Relay.


Nova Southeastern

The Nova Southeastern swimming and diving teams ended day three of the 2014 Sunshine State Conference Championships. The men's team moved up to second place while the women maintained third place in the standings.

Marco Aldabe (Fr., Alicante, Spain) punched his ticket to the NCAA National Championship with an automatic qualifying time in the men's 400-yard IM. He won the race and matched the conference record with a time of 3:52.96. Cameron Chambers (Sr., St. Petersburg, Fla.) came in second, Oscar Aldabe (Sr., Alicante, Spain) finished fourth and John Michael Hayes (Sr., Jacksonville, Fla.) finished seventh, all with NCAA B qualifying times. Lauren Chapple (Jr., London, England) earned second in the women's 400-yard IM and claimed a B cut time of 4:26.47. Chapple still owns the conference record in the event.

Florian Mehlan (Sr., Moers, Germany) earned NSU's second win in the 200-yard freestyle, with a B cut time of 1:38.13. He was a second off an automatic qualifying time. Shane Kleinbeck (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) also earned a B cut in seventh place with a time of 1:41.35. In the women's 200- free, freshman Brooke Munion (Bethlehem, Pa.) was the Sharks' top finisher in sixth with a B cut time of 1:53.51.

The day began with the 200-yard IM relay, in which the men claimed second and the women fourth. The men clocked a NCAA B qualifying time of 1:30.50, while the women finished in 1:47.95. Emma Wahlstrom (Fr., Stockholm, Sweden), Sammy Akoubian (Sr., Run Dacula, Ga.) Arianna Sunyak (Jr., Naples, Fla.), and Alexandra Zatylny (Sr., Quebec, Canada) made up the women's side. Aldabe, Thomas Aycart (Sr., Miami, Fla.), Magnus Lundgren (Jr., Stockholm, Sweden) and Esau Simpson (Sr., St. David's, Grenada) formed the men's side.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Emma Lawrenz (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) claimed second and earned a B cut time of 56.19. On the men's side, Jim Shelley (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.) claimed fourth at 48.97 and Lundgren took sixth at 49.43, both B standard times.

NSU will conclude the SSC Championship Saturday, with the finals beginning an hour earlier at 5 p.m.


Florida Tech

Florida Tech freshman Lauren Suarez was awarded the program’s first-ever medal in day three of the Sunshine State Conference Championship at the Orlando YMCA Aquatic Center on Friday.
 
Suarez won bronze in the 100-yard backstroke with a new program record time of 57.10. Fellow freshman Dar Raz came in right behind her at 57.31 for fourth place. Florida Southern’s Lauren Reynolds finished first at 55.37.
 
“We had an exciting night tonight with our first medal winner at a conference championship meet,” head coach Jeni Ritter said. “Lauren Suarez placing third in the 100-yard backstroke was a great moment for our program. It will help motivate the team to finish the meet strong.”
 
Suarez’ time was one of nine program records the Panthers set in the finals on the third day of the championships.
 
In the opening race of the day, Suarez swam with Raz, Schelli Linz and Madison Hart to a seventh-place finish in the ‘A’ Final of the 200-yard medley relay at program record of 1:50.25.
 
The men’s 200-yard medley relay then set a new program mark at 1:32.90. Finishing fourth in the ‘A’ Final was Kaikea Nakachi, Brian Dumont, Nir Barnea and Victor Westerlund.
 
Camden Johnston set a new program time with a sixth-place finish in the 400-yard IM at 4:03.44.
                                                                                 
Nir Barnea finished seventh in the ‘A’ Final of the 100-yard butterfly at a new program record of 49.53.
 
Bernie Murphy then placed first in the ‘B’ Final and ninth overall at a new FIT women’s team mark of 1:55.88 in the 200-yard freestyle
 
Dumont placed fourth in the top final of the 100-yard breaststroke at a program mark of 56.78.
 
In the men’s 100-yard backstroke, Nakachi set a new program time of 52.22 for 11th place overall and third in the ‘B’ Final.
 
As a team, the Panther men are in fourth with 292 points. Florida Southern is atop the leaderboard on the men’s side at 653 points. The women are also in fourth with 263 points. Tampa continues to lead the pack with 621 points.

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