With the end of the regular season closing in, Florida Tech was unable to keep up with its opponents Tuesday afternoon, falling to conference foes Lynn and Saint Leo at the Panther Aquatic Center.
SLU topped FIT by a slim 136-126 margin. On the women’s side, the Panthers were defeated 162-83 by the Fighting Knights and 174-70 by the Lions.
Victor Rocha Furtado got the Panthers in the win column early, claiming the 200-yard freestyle in 1:40.31, an NCAA B-Cut time. Brian Dumont also took an event title, touching first in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:00.67.
Nir Barnea registered FIT’s second B-Cut time of the day, winning the 50 free in 20.25. Thomas Steenberg (47.48) was narrowly defeated in the 100 free, coming up just under three hundredths of a second behind SLU’s Hunter Bains.
The tandem of Emanuel Rossi and Ferruccio Rossi went two-three in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing with times of 4:47.68 and 4:58.67, respectively. Rocha Furtado claimed his second B-Cut time of the day in the 100 fly, touching first with a 49.51.
The Panthers closed the meet with a win as Barnea, Emanuele Rossi, Rocha Furtado and Steenberg teamed up for a first place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 3:05.06.
For the FIT women, Paulina Bjorkbacka took third in the 100-yard backstroke, timing in at 1:03.08. Lauren Suarez came up just short of victory in the 50 free with a 24.73, 12 hundredths of a second behind Natalia Garriock of SLU. Liana Soileau was close behind with a time of 26.08.
Bjorkbacka earned her second third-place finish in as many races, registering a 2:16.16 in the 200 back. The team of Willa Huddleston, Rachel Barczyk, Bernie Murphy and Soileau took second in the 400 free relay, making the final touch in 3:46.38.
The Panthers close out the regular season on Saturday, playing host to Sunshine State Conference rival Rollins at 11 a.m. at the Panther Aquatic Center.
