Florida Tech
With two more trips to the podium on Friday, Florida Tech has accumulated the same number of medals at the midway point of the 2016 Sunshine State Conference Championships as the Panthers had accrued in the program’s history entering the meet.
“It’s been a really exciting two days,” said head coach Justin Andrade. “It’s good to see the team having fun and swimming well. They’re coming together as a team and swimming with heart. We’re looking forward to the next two days.”
In total, four school records were broken on Day Two, while nine NCAA B Cut times were set.
The Panthers started out the meet with a bang as Nir Barnea, Filip Dujmic, Victor Rocha Furtado and Edward Ilako set a blazing school record time of 1:20.23 in the 200 free relay. Not only was the performance good for the silver medal, the first medal for any Panther relay team, but entering the weekend the time would be good for fourth fastest in the nation.
Sophomore Yagoh Kubagawa also earned FIT a medal, taking the bronze in the 400 individual medley in 3:55.10, breaking his own FIT record. Camden Johnston made an eighth place showing, making the final touch in 3:59.66.
Not to be outdone by their counterparts, the women’s 200 free relay team of Dar Raz, Lauren Suarez, Liana Soileau and Shelby Pearce also took down the school record. The team came in at 1:36.98, dropping more than three seconds from their seed time and coming in fourth.
Barnea came back from his performance in the 200 free relay to score another record breaker. The junior bested his own record time in the 100 butterfly with a 48.38, good for fifth. Rocha Furtado wasn’t too far behind, timing in at 48.81 for eighth.
Emanuele Rossi’s B Cut time of 1:38.90 earned the freshman a fifth place finish in the 200 freestyle. Brother Ferruccio Rossi was the second fastest in the “B” final at 1:41.88.
Rounding out the day in the 400 medley relay, Eric Berg, Brian Dumont, Barnea and Rocha Furtado joined forces to grab fourth at 3:20.86. On the women’s side of the race, Raz, Samantha Conger, Trista Phelps and Soileau took seventh after finishing in 4:00.52. Raz’s lead off 100 back of 56.56 established the second B Cut time of the year for the Panther women.
After two days the Panther men are in fourth place with 311 points, just 17.5 behind third place Tampa. The FIT women round out the standings with 116 points, just behind Rollins’ 118.
Nova Southeastern
Nova Southeastern University swimming came away with two new Sunshine State Conference (SSC) overall records as Thiago Sickert and the men's 400-yard medley relay team came away with victories on the second night of the conference championship.
Sickert (Jr., Vila Velha, Brazil) took the title in the men's 100-yard butterfly with a NCAA A-Standard and new SSC overall and NSU record time of 47.14. Earlier in the day during the preliminary race, Sickert set a new championship meet record in the 100-fly with a NCAA A-Standard time of 47.32. He was joined by David Van Der Colff (Fr., Gaborone, Botswana), Anton Lobanov (So., Novosibirisk, Russia) and Victor Tarin (Jr., Godelleta, Spain) in the 400-yard medley relay in which the team claimed victory and set a new SSC overall record at 3:12.10, which is also a new Sharks record and NCAA B-Standard time.
The men weren't the only ones who came away with a win. The women's team of Courtney DeVeny (So., Estero, Fla.), Malin Westman (So., Harryda, Sweden), Sydney Panzarino (So., Bradenton, Fla.) and Emma Wahlstrom (Jr., Stockholm, Sweden) also took home the title in the 400-medley relay with a NCAA B-Standard of 3:46.29.
The women also medaled in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a third place finish in 1:35.31, which is a NCAA Standard-B time. The team consisted of Panzarino, Jordan Shows (So., Alta Loma, Calif.), Caroline Oster (Fr., Lake Mary, Fla.) and Brooke Munion (Jr., Bethlehem, Pa.). Panzarino and Oster also competed in the women's 100-fly, taking fifth and eighth in 57.03 and 58.23, respectively. The men also took third in the 200-free relay with Malique Elder (So., Dayton, Ohio), Julian Coster (Fr., Gothenburg, Sweden), Van Der Colff and Lobanov putting up a NCAA Standard-B time of 1:21.20.
In the women's 400-yard individual medley, DeVeny was the Sharks' top finisher earning second place in 4:26.19 (NCAA B cut). Close behind was Westman in third coming in at 4:28.02 (NCAA B but), and Lindsay Craig (Mount Horeb, Wis.) rounded out the group in eighth with a time of 4:36.14. Marco Aldabe (Jr., Alicante, Spain) also took second in the men's 400 IM, putting up a NCAA B-Standard of 3:53.63. Stephen Klein (So., Albuquerque, N.M.) finished sixth in 3:58.80 and Blake Woodrow (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) took seventh in 3:59.65, both of which made the NCAA Standard-B cut.
The women's 200-yard freestyle saw Wahlstrom earn second place (1:50.74) followed by Georgina Allin (Jr., Somerset, England) in sixth (1:52.77) and Munion in eighth (1:53.57). All three finishes made the NCAA Standard-B cut. Tarin concluded the night with a third-place finish in the men's 200-free. He finished with a 1:38.03, which hit the NCAA B-Standard mark.
Both the men and women remain in second place with scores of 348.50 and 392.50, respectively. Florida Southern is in first place on both sides with the women at 369.50 and the men at 448.50.
Tampa
Through two days at the 2016 Sunshine State Conference Championships, both University of Tampa swimming teams are in third-place with two days remaining.
Only one meet record fell during the opening day of the Sunshine State Conference Championships. However, that certainly wasn't the case on Day Two on Friday, when five championship records were topped, including the meet's first two overall SSC records.
Additionally, three NCAA "A" Cut times were registered on the second day of action.
After two days, Florida Southern tops the women's team standings with 448.5 points, ahead of second place Nova Southeastern at 392.5 points. Tampa (293), Lynn (211), Saint Leo (209) and Rollins sit in third through sixth, respectively. Florida Tech brings up the rear just behind the Tars with 116 points.
On the men's side, the Moccasins once again claim the top position with 369.5 points, while Nova Southeastern sits in second with 348.5 points. Tampa garners the No. 3 position with 328.5 points and Florida Tech is within striking distance in fourth with 311 points. Saint Leo is in fifth with 241.5 points, while Rollins rounds things out in sixth with 105 points.
