Florida Tech
Record breaking swims from Adi Davidov and Shelby Pearce highlighted the fourth and final day at the Panther Aquatic Center as the inaugural Panther Invitational concluded on Sunday.
Davidov sliced nearly seven full seconds off of his previous best 200-yard butterfly time, garnering second in 1:50.17, an NCAA B-Cut time. The performance was one of many impressive swims from the freshman class for the Panther men, including Eric Berg’s 100-yard backstroke record-breaker on Friday.
“Our men’s freshmen class will do whatever it takes to be successful,” said head coach Justin Andrade. ”They come in every day willing to work hard. They don’t take a minute off. Whatever they think it is going to take to achieve their goals they are going to do that. They are a really good influence on their teammates.
“I think they are going to really develop into great leaders over the next few years. We are excited to see how they progress.”
Mere moments after teammate Trista Phelps (2:11.37) broke Shelby Pearce’s record in the 200 fly, the Panther captain recaptured the top-time in the next heat. Pearce ultimately took fifth with a time of 2:10.41.
When talking about Phelps and Pearce, Andrade had similar comments to those on the men’s freshmen.
“It’s the same thing with Trista and Shelby,” he stated. “They’ll do whatever it takes and work hard every single day. They really deserve to see that success and time drop because they always have good attitudes. Even when it’s cold outside or they have a rough day of classes, they find a way to come in and work hard.
“They train together a good amount so it’s nice to see them both have some success. That’s a tough event and despite it being the fourth day of the meet they found a way to get it done. We are really proud of them.”
In the women’s 400 free relay, Bernie Murphy, Pearce, Willa Huddleston and Liana Soileau teamed up for a fourth-place finish, timing in at 3:38.02. In the men’s side of the 400 free relay, the team of Nir Barnea, Emanuele Rossi, Filip Dujmic and Thomas Steenberg grabbed the win, setting a B-Cut time of 3:01.67.
Carmen Montalvo, the lone Panther to compete in the mile, snagged seventh in 18:18.16. It was the first mile time set by Montalvo this season. The Panther women were strong in the 200 back as Dar Raz (2:05.85) and Julie Coen (2:06.05) took third and fourth, respectively.
With all four lanes filled with FIT men in the 200-yard backstroke, Tyler Phelps was the fastest amongst them, making the final touch in 1:52.90. Berg (1:54.30), Oz Wasserman (1:58.23) and Adrien Hosking (2:00.06) placed second through fourth, respectively.
In the women’s 100 free, Lauren Suarez won her heat and finished runner-up overall with a 53.03. Soileau (54.99) narrowly outpaced Murphy (55.06) to garner ninth.
Logan Szarka was the fastest man in the 100-yard freestyle, making the final touch at 47.72. Freshman Channing Ryan garnered third with a 49.28.
Christie DeFlumerie paced the Panther women in the 200-yard breaststroke, taking ninth with a time of 2:33.37. On the men’s side of the race, Brian Dumont shaved over six seconds off of his season-best time to win the event in 2:04.47. Camden Johnston finished right behind Dumont for second at 2:06.67.
While Davidov’s swim was the toast of the 200 fly for FIT, Yagoh Kubagawa also put forth a solid effort with a B-Cut time of 1:50.86, good for third.
A number of B-Cut times were also set during the night session, which consisted solely of time trials. Barnea, Dujmic, Jonah Rieman and Edward Ilako broke the school record in the 200 free relay, posting a 1:21.21. Barnea’s 20.64 leadoff time was also a B-Cut mark.
Kubagawa came back to swim a 3:57.73 in the 400-yard IM, while Rossi timed in at 1:39.47 in the 200 free. Not to be outdone by his little brother, Ferruccio Rossi snagged a B-Cut time of his own with a 15:58.08 in the mile.
Steenberg timed in at 45.70 in the 100-yard freestyle, while Davidov capped the meet with a 1:50.78 in the 200 fly to wrap up FIT’s B-Cut times.
Looking back on the weekend, Andrade was extremely proud of the Panthers’ performance.
“The teams swam really well,” he said. “I think we are excited to see where we are at for mid-November. The hard work that they have been putting in has been paying off. There has been a little bit of craziness with the weather but the team showed some resilience and that they are capable of swimming fast regardless. It was good to see that they didn’t make any excuses and that they got behind each other.”
The performance of the team wasn’t the only thing that the Panther head coach was pleased with, adding that it took a great effort from everyone involved.
“We are extremely grateful for everyone involved in this process over these past few days,” said Andrade. “We couldn’t have asked for more from the student-athletes, coaches and officials on deck. The exciting and welcoming atmosphere was truly something rare to see. To see everyone from the opposing teams coming together to support one another was remarkable.
“We would also like to say thanks to Athletics Director Bill Jurgens, Ticket Operations Director Tom Richard, Game Operations Manager Ryan Vander Weilen, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications Mitch Praxl and Panther Aquatic Center Pool Manager Zach Sanchez for helping make this inaugural invitational such a success.”
In total FIT set 24 B-Cut times over the extended weekend. Additionally, 12 Panther records fell at the invitational.
In desperate need of rest after the four-day schedule, the Panthers will get a three and a half week break from competition before returning to action against Georgia Southern at the Panther Aquatic Center on Dec. 16.
North Florida
Senior Amy Taylor continued her assault on the North Florida swimming record books by establishing a new program best in the 200 butterfly. As a team, the Ospreys put forth another outstanding, all-around effort on the final day of the Florida Tech Invite.
Taylor capped of a monster weekend that included four first place finishes in individual races. Her record-breaking time of the 2:03.52 broke Patricia Lanoue's mark set at CCSA Championships in 2009. In addition to historical swim she claimed first place in the 1650 free with the third fastest time (17:10.19) in school history and the fastest in the CCSA this season.
Sophomore Chase Walker also entered her name in the school top 10 list with a first place finish in the 100 freestyle. Her time of 52.47 was the 10th fastest in the program's history. '
The 400 freestyle relay comprised of Walker, Nicole Nesto, Taylor Schmidinger and Janie Kennedy turned in a time of 3:34.12, which is the fastest by any Osprey relay combination this year.
