Swimcloud

Tampa Women Claim Second Straight SSC Title

Tampa

The University of Tampa women's swimming team claimed its second consecutive Sunshine State Conference Championship on Saturday following four days of competition. Tampa's men also finished second in the event.

On the women's side, the Spartans accumulated 868 points to defeat Florida Southern (796). Also competing were Nova Southeastern (600), Florida Tech (365), Saint Leo (364), Rollins (311) and Lynn (274).

Florida Southern won the men's title with 914 points as the Spartans finished with 759. Nova Southeastern (736), Florida Tech (437), Saint Leo (323) and Rollins (222) also finished the scoring.

Heather Glenday began the day with an SSC championship in the 1,650 Free. The senior won with a time of 16:53.03. Jonathan Hofrichter was third in the men's 1,650 Free as the freshman registered a time of 15:55.19.

Karl Burdis was the runner-up in the 200 Back, with a time of 1:45.41. Tampa also had a second-place finish from Erin Plachy in the 100 Free as her time was clocked at 51.03. Martin Hammer was second in the men's 100 Free with a showing of 44.43.

Catherine Parker added the second SSC championship of the day for Tampa, winning the 200 Fly with a time of 2:02.94. Zane Hranac was second in the men's 200 Fly in 1:48.65.

The Spartan women finished the championships with a second-place effort in the 400 Free Relay. The team of Briana Murphy, Marisa Barton, Glenday and Plachy notched a time of 3:27.91.

Tampa's men won the SSC championship in the 400 Free Relay, with the gold going to Hammer, Jordan Augier, Khalid Aldaboos and Jeremy Parker. The winning time was clocked at 2:57.35.

The Spartans will look to continue their men's and women's success when they return to the pool at the 2014 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships. The finals are scheduled for March 12-15 at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.


Nova Southeastern

The Nova Southeastern swimming and diving teams took third place at the 2014 Sunshine State Conference Championship, which concluded Saturday. 

The women's team ended the four-day meet with 600 points, 268 shy of conference champs Tampa. The men held 736 points, 178 points behind Florida Southern.

Saturday's finals started with the 1650-yard freestyle, or better known as the mile. Sara Akoubian (Sr., Run Dacula, Ga.) was the top Shark for the women with a NCAA B qualifying time of 17:19.11, good for fifth place. The men had two swimmers finish in the top five. Addison Cates (Jr., Fort Myers, Fla.) took second place in a time of 15:51.54 and Cameron Chambers (Sr., St. Petersburg, Fla.) finished fourth in a time of 15:56.79. Both were B cut times.

In the 200-yard backstroke, Emma Wahlstrom (Fr., Stockholm, Sweden) earned a B cut time in third place by a hundredth of a second at 2:04.34. The men were represented by Marco Aldabe (Fr., Alicante, Spain), who was a second off an automatic qualifying time in third place at 1:47.29.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Esau Simpson (Sr., St. David's, Grenada) claimed sixth for the men with a B cut time of 45.10. The men would place in the top-5 of the 200-yard breaststroke, as Oscar Aldabe (Sr., Alicante, Spain) clocked in at a time of 2:05.62.

The women placed two swimmers in the top three of the 200-yard butterfly, each with B standard times. Emma Lawrenz (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) took second at 2:05.88 and Lauren Chapple (Jr., London, England) took third at 2:06.16. The Sharks placed in the top five of the men's event, with Santiago Pombo (Jr., Bogota, Columbia) claiming fifth and clocking in at 1:52.81.

The four-day meet concluded with the 400-yard freestyle, with the women taking third and the men claiming second. NSU's women clocked in at 3:31.71 and were made up of Lawrenz, Wahlstrom, Arianna Sunyak (Jr., Naples, Fla.), and Alexandra Zatylny (Sr., Quebec, Canada). The men hit the wall in 2:59.02 and were comprised of Simpson, Magnus Lundgren (Jr., Stockholm, Sweden), Shane Kleinbeck (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) and Marco Aldabe. Both relay teams earned B cut times.


Florida Tech

Florida Tech recorded its highest finish at the Sunshine State Conference Championship in the program’s three-year history on Saturday, placing fourth in the men’s and women’s standings at the Orlando YMCA Aquatic Center.
 
The men totaled 437 points, which was 114 more points than fifth-place Saint Leo. Florida Southern won the men’s title with 914 points. Tampa came in second at 759 points. Nova Southeastern grabbed third at 736 points. Saint Leo was fifth at 323 points and Rollins rounded out the men’s field with 222 points.
 
The women edged Saint Leo by just one point for fourth place, 365-364. Tampa was crowned the women’s champion after it accumulated 72 more points than second-place Florida Southern. Nova Southeastern also finished third on the women’s side with 600 points. Rollins reeled in 311 points and Lynn had 274.
 
Lauren Suarez became the first-ever Panther to medal at the SSC Championship on Friday, earning bronze in the 100-yard backstroke. Brian Dumont followed her lead on Saturday by capturing the men’s team’s first medal. He won silver in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke at a new program record time of 2:03.36. That time is exactly two seconds faster than the previous program record set by Dumont one year ago at the SSC Championship.
 
Including Dumont’s program record, FIT’s men and women combined to set seven program records on the fourth day of the championship.
 
“I am very pleased with the team’s performance today,” head coach Jeni Ritter said. “It was a great way to end the championship meet. We earned a medal on the men’s side for the first time in team history. It is exciting to know that we are improving with the young history of our program.”
 
Ferruccio Rossi shaved eight seconds off the men’s team’s previous best time in the 1,650-yard freestyle. He clocked in at 16:00.39 for fifth place. Matt Colvin came in two spots behind Rossi at 16:08.82 for seventh place.
 
Dar Raz just missed medaling in the 200-yard backstroke. She placed fourth in the ‘A’ Final at a new program mark of 2:05.06. Julie Coen was not far behind, finishing seventh at 2:09.37.
 
In the men’s 200-yard backstroke, Tyler Phelps catapulted to the top of the record book with a time of 1:52.62 for sixth place in the ‘A’ Final.
 
Suarez swam in the ‘A’ Final of the 100-yard freestyle and was the eighth swimmer to touch the timing pad at a clip of 54.76. Liana Soileau finished second in the ‘B’ Final and 10th overall at 53.59.
 
Also racing with Dumont in the 200-yard breaststroke ‘A’ Final was Camden Johnston, who punched in at 2:10.35 for seventh place.
 
Takashi Worrell finished eighth in the 200-yard butterfly ‘A’ Final at 1:56.08.
 
Suarez, Raz, Madison Hart and Soileau then swam in the 400-yard freestyle relay ‘A’ Final and came in fourth at a program record 3:34.26.
 
In the men’s event, Victor Westerlund, Logan Szarka, Steven Moodie and Nir Barnea grabbed fifth place in the ‘A’ Final at a new program mark of 3:06.62 to close out the meet and the 2013-14 season for the Panthers.

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