The inaugural West Florida women’s swimming and diving team finished its first conference meet Saturday at the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Conference Championships with a second place finish. The Argonauts finished the meet with nine individual and relay conference championships, and Peggy de Villiers (Somerset West, South Africa/Drury) was the meet’s co-high point swimmer and Josie McKee (Canton, Ohio/Malone) was the meet’s high point diver.
UWF, ranked No. 21 in the most recent Division II national coaches’ poll, finished second behind No. 8 Delta State. DSU finished the meet with 1005 points, and the Argos posted a strong second place finish with 925 points. Henderson State was third at 676, Ouachita Baptist was fourth at 548 and Emmanuel (Ga.) was fifth at 230.
“We’re delighted with our performance here at the NSISC Championships this weekend,” said UWF head coach Andrew Hancock. “To perform the way we did was extremely special for any team, let alone one in its first year. We gave one of the top teams in the country everything they could handle. The meet was in the balance all the way until the last few events. For a team that’s still so new and so fresh to come together like they did, I’m extremely proud of them.”
The Argos’ two wins on Saturday were in the 100 Free and 400 Free Relay. In the 100 Free de Villiers claimed the win with a time of 51.17, marking her third individual conference championship this week. The winning 400 Free Relay team included Anna-Marie Macht (Markkleeberg, Germany/Darton State), Emily Mitchell (Allen Park, Mich./Darton State), Carla Robles (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef HS) and de Villiers. The team raced to a time of 3:27.74, marking a new NSISC record, DSU Aquatic Center record and school record.
The evening session started with the 1650 Free, and Phoebe Briant (Gainesville, Fla./Gainesville HS) was UWF’s top finisher with a time of 17:57.94. The freshman placed third in the event to earn UWF’s highest finish in a long distance event.
“It was an amazing experience for me,” said Briant. “It’s my first year swimming in college, and it was a great feeling. I basically thought about my team while I was swimming. I thought I have to catch the other girls, I have to move up spots to get a strong finish.”
The 200 Back was next, and senior Cheryl Corvo (Fort Walton Beach, Fla./Florida Gulf Coast) starred for UWF in the event. Corvo placed third and swam a time of 2:04.49, marking a new school record.
“I feel like I met a lot of my goal times,” said Corvo. “A lot of the other girls have been nailing their times too. For my senior year, I’m really impressed with myself because I’ve been hitting my times the way I’ve wanted to hit them.”
Savannah Antonetz (Lake Charles, La./Barbe HS) finished just behind Corvo in the 200 Back, swimming a time of 2:05.51 to place fourth.
The 100 Free was next, and Mitchell and Robles finished behind de Villiers in fifth and seventh, respectively, to give UWF three swimmers in the top seven. Paulina Szydlo (Wroclaw, Poland/Gimbasket HS) finished second in the next event on the schedule, the 200 Breast, and her time of 2:20.00 marked an NCAA B-cut time. Jennifer Starck (Hunstville, Ala./Huntsville HS) finished behind Szydlo in sixth place. In the final individual event, Allison Lehr (Valrico, Fla./Bloomingdale HS) finished sixth for UWF in the 200 Fly.
“It’s been a fantastic journey,” explained Hancock. “September feels like just yesterday. We got everyone together and we didn’t even know each other’s name. To think about where we’ve come in the last six months is truly incredible. We’ve been fortunate to put together a great group of people with strong character and great work ethic. They’re the best people you can spend your time with, and I’m incredibly grateful to have been a part of this.”
The official NCAA Division II Championships selections are scheduled to be announced on Tuesday, Feb. 25 on www.NCAA.com. The Argonauts will have at least three competitors at the meet, as de Villiers swam an NCAA A-cut time in the 100 Fly and divers Josie McKee (Canton, Ohio/Malone) and Meghan Zets (Grovetown, Ga./Grovetown HS) both posted scores high enough for the NCAA diving qualifying meet.
The Argos will stay in Cleveland, Miss. on Sunday, Feb. 23 for the Delta State Last Chance Qualifier. The meet will give UWF one more opportunity for individuals to qualify for the NCAA nationals.
