The Florida State swimming and diving teams have the lead in three of the four dual contest between West Florida, Florida Southern and Florida Gulf Coast after the first day of two at the Morcom Aquatics Center.
The 22nd-ranked men’s team leads Florida Southern 114-53 as juniors Jason Coombs and Jason McCormick along with senior Cole Hensley produced times that rank among the fastest in the country.
“Those three guys stood out tonight,” FSU head coach Frank Bradley said. “They went out after it and they put together some clean races and that’s what I’m expecting from those guys, especially when we’re swimming at home. We’ve put in a great deal of work this week and those guys went out there and raced hard.”
Coombs swam the second fastest time in the country in the 200 breast, clocking a season best of 1:57.08, listing him behind Josh Prenot of California (1:55.87).
McCormick won the 50 free with a season best of 20.09, which ties for ninth. He also led off the 400 free relay with a 44.71 split, helping the Seminoles take first in the race with a time of 2:59.51.
Hensley improved his 200 fly to a 1:46.68, which lists him as the 14th best in the event.
The women’s team leads Florida Southern (157-26) and West Florida (130-56), but trails Florida Gulf Coast (123-63) heading into Saturday’s contest.
The Eagles came out dominant in the first four races of the meet before freshman Meg Brown won the 200 fly, leading wire-to-wire with time of 2:01.08 after finishing third in the 200 IM with at 2:04.51.
“It was nice to see Meg take that 200 fly,” Bradley said. “She came back after losing a close race in the IM and just never let anyone beat her. That’s what I liked the most about that swim. She put her head down and won.”
Sophomore Alexi Smith grabbed second place in the 50 free with a time of 23.40.
The Seminoles picked up points in diving as freshman Cassidy Gebhart grabbed second on 3-meter with a score of 295.35 and sophomore Blair Mulka followed in third at 277.80.
The men’s team won seven of the nine events on the day including both the 200 medley (1:28.66) and 400 free relay events.
Individually, Coombs and sophomore Connor Kalisz combined for a one-two punch in the 200 IM as Coombs posted another season best of 1:49.46 and Kalisz placed second with a 1:53.53.
Finishing behind McCormick in the 50 free was freshman Kanoa Kaleoaloha (20.56) and sophomore Chad Mylin (20.75).
In the 200 back, FSU put up a sweep with Kalisz leading at 1:46.68. Junior Stefan Stojmenovic followed in second at 1:49.02, which was a season best showing for the Norrkoping, Sweden native.
Rookie Noah Hensley rounded out the sweep in third, touching with a time of 1:52.25, which also was a season best time.
“We had some great swims tonight,” Bradley said. “But we have to come back and be better tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond.”
Saturday’s session will start at 10 a.m. and will contain the 400 medley relay, 100 IM, 1000 free, 100 fly, 100 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 200 free relay and 1-meter diving.
Florida Gulf Coast
The No. 25 FGCU women's swimming and diving team capped off day one with a 123-63 lead over No. 31 Florida State and a 162-18 advantage against Florida Southern on Friday evening at the Morcom Aquatics Center in Tallahassee, Fla.
"The girls swam awesome today and have built a great lead over FSU," said FGCU head coach Neal Studd. "We swam a number of season-best times, and the girls continue to improve. We're excited to hopefully continue our momentum tomorrow."
The Green and Blue won eight of 10 events while turning in six season-best performances. As they have for much of the season, the 200-yard medley quartet, this time of Elise Haan (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast HS), Katie Armitage (Bushey, United Kingdom/Queens School Bushey), Yee Ching Wong (Hong Kong, China/Diocesan Girls' School) and Katie Latham (Deal, Kent, United Kingdom/Sir Roger Manwood's School), got the Eagles out to an early lead as they swam a season-best time of 1:41.19 in the event.
Individually, Haan improved her unblemished record to start her collegiate career with a pair of wins in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke. In her first time competing in the event this season, the freshman standout swam a season-best time of 1:49.26 in the freestyle event, which also ranks as the third-fastest mark in program history, while clocking a 2:02.68 in the backstroke. The Eagles swept the podium in the 200 free as Lani Cabrera (Bridgetown, Barbados/Ursala's Secondary School) and Linda Shaw (Leeds, United Kingdom/Roundhay HS) placed second and third in times of 1:50.12 and 1:51.48, respectively. Both Cabrera's and Shaw's times would have also been good for season bests.
Barbara Caraballo (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Newsome HS/Indian River) won her third consecutive 200-yard IM event after touching the pads in a season-best 2:01.65, good for the third-fastest time in FGCU history and just 0.60 seconds shy of her personal best. Additionally, Caraballo finished just 0.06 seconds from turning in a NCAA 'B' cut performance. Armitage finished second in the event in a time of 2:03.94. Later, the United Kingdom native won the 200-yard breaststroke after swimming a race of 2:17.23. It was her second win of the season in the event and her sixth overall individual win.
Latham notched her third 50-yard freestyle win of the season in a time of 23.24 seconds, while teammate Sara Hamilton (Stonehaven, Scotland/Mackie Academy) finished third in the race in a season-best time of 23.86 seconds. Later, Christina Kaas Elmgreen (Charlottenlund, Denmark/Ordrup Gymnasium) and Wong finished second and third, respectively, in the 200-yard butterfly. Kaas Elmgreen turned in a season-best time of 2:01.88 while Wong touched the pads in 2:03.39.
Much like the 200-yard freestyle, FGCU also swept the podium in the 500-yard event as Cabrera, Shaw and Melissa Marinheiro (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) finished first through third. Cabrera turned in a season-best time of 4:53.18 as she defeated the field by more the two and a half seconds and swam the sixth-fastest time in program history. Shaw and Marinheiro clocked times of 4:55.86 and 4:57.61, respectively.
The Green and Blue's 400-yard freestyle relay of Hamilton, Hannah Burdge (Stuart, Fla./Martin County HS), Caraballo and Latham capped off the swimming events with a win in the event as they finished the race in 3:25.28.
In the diving portion of Friday's competition, Ashley Wright (Port Saint Lucie, Fla./Lincoln Park Academy/Indian River) one-upped her season-best three-meter performance in Salt Lake City with a 276.75-point effort, good for a fourth-place finish and the seventh-best dive in program history.
