Final Team Standings
Men
1. Florida, 1,099
2. Nova Southeastern, 894
3. Keiser, 578
Women
1. Florida, 1,076
2. Miami (FL), 744
3. Florida Gulf Coast, 692
4. Nova Southeastern, 617)
5. Keiser, 38)
Florida
For the seventh straight season, Florida swept the men’s and women’s team titles at the three-day All-Florida Invitational, totaling 1,099 and 1,076 points respectively.
Throughout the meet, the Florida men won 12 events (nine individual and three relays), while the women were first in 15 (12 individual and three relays).
Freshmen Maxime Rooney and Kay Sargent also won host Nova Southeastern’s Michael D. Fish High Point Award, which is given to the most outstanding male and female swimmer with the highest number of points. Rooney collected 101 points and Sargent 102 from their finishes in each event.
The Gators wrapped up the meet with seven event titles on Sunday.
UF swept the 1650 free, with Georgia Darwent winning on the women’s side at 16:52.53 and Ben Lawless on the men’s at 15:37.56.
Alyssa Yambor-Maul contributed two individual wins, finishing first in the 200 back (2:01.67) and 200 fly (2:01.41)
Rooney took home a win in the 200 back at 1:47.63.
Mark Szaranek won his third individual title on the weekend, the 200 fly at 1:52.21.
Florida concluded the weekend finishing first in the men’s 400 free relay. Rooney and Szaranek teamed up with Christoph Margotti and Enzo Martinez-Scarpe on UF’s A-team to swim a 3:02.39.
Miami (Fla.)
Miami ended its run at the All-Florida Invite hosted by Nova Southeastern Sunday, finishing in second place in its opening competition of the season.
Competing without their diving contingent, the Hurricanes used a final push on their last day at the NSU Aquatic Complex to take second place with 744 points. In third place after the first two days, Miami wound up topping FGCU (692), Nova Southeastern (617) and Keiser (38), while Florida (1,076) won the three-day competition.
"We ended up better than we started, which was great to see,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “We got a little better every session and ended the meet in second, which was great. It took a full three days to get there, and I'm glad we fought all the way until the end."
Miami opened the day with the 1650-yard freestyle and had four swimmers competing: senior Cameron Davis (17:25.00), freshman Claire McGinnis (17:32.82), junior Julie Suarez (17:46.08) and sophomore Madison Emery (18:03.54).
Davis was Miami’s top finisher in the event, where she placed fifth overall in a talented field.
"I was happy with our mile. We didn't win, but just having four people in there was a big step for the program,” Kershaw said. “In the five years prior to this, we've only had four different people swim the event total. This year along we had four alone...we had some people do it who are 'milers,' and some who are not. That was good."
Three Hurricanes qualified for the “A” final of the 200 backstroke – sophomore Roxanne Yu (2:04.30) finished fourth, senior Christina Leander (2:05.74) took sixth and sophomore Katie Sickinger (2:09.34) placed eighth.
Miami shined in the 100 free, where Suarez led the way with the top finish. Suarez, who took first in a time of 51.32, was joined by Iliana Oikonomou (third place, 51.97) and sophomore Ianire Casarin (fifth place, 52.36) in the night’s final.
"Julie had another great night for us. She's a warrior for us. She won the 100 free, which was actually our first event win. Great effort there, and it was good to see Iliana and Ianni in there as well. That was certainly a strong event for us."
Miami placed three in the “A” final of the 200 breaststroke - freshman Chantal Noe (2:24.50), senior Juli Schippert (2:25.11) and Leander (2:28.35) – and three more in the “A” final of the 200 fly: senior Angela Algee (2:04.86), junior Jessica Hurley (2:09.61) and Davis (2:10.78).
"There was a lot of good execution,” Kershaw said. “It was good to see Angela kind of coming into her own again. I thought the breaststrokers stepped up tonight a little better. It was a good meet overall, and in the end, I think we are better for it.”
The Hurricanes ended the event in style, winning the 400 free relay in dominant fashion. Suarez, Oikonomou, Casarin and Algee finished first with a time of 3:25.97, over four seconds better than the second-place group from Florida.
“I talked to them about our relays and our relay mindset, and it was great to see them respond,” Kershaw said.
Next up for Miami is its home opener against FIU on Sept. 30. The dual meet is set to begin at 6 p.m. at the Whitten University Center Pool, and admission is free.
“This helps us see what we need to work on, and I know they're anxious to get back to working on those things and getting better,” Kershaw said. “At the end of the week, we'll set our sights on FIU, which is another chance to practice, get back on the blocks, get better and take another step forward in this process."
Florida Gulf Coast
Despite deciding to forgo the final events Sunday afternoon, the FGCU swimming & diving team turned in a third-place finish at the All Florida Invite held at the NSU Aquatic Center this weekend.
The Eagles tallied 692 points in the two-plus days and finished behind Florida (1076) and Miami (744), who completed the three-day event. Host Nova Southeastern (617) and Keiser (38) rounded out the field with fourth and fifth-place finishes, respectively.
"Overall, the team did a great job this weekend," said FGCU head coach Dave Rollins. "Our team spirit was off the charts, and we were consistently the most vocal team. This early in the season, we have been focused on building our base and getting into shape. It was apparent in our racing details. We will focus on building from here and sharpening our race strategy and details. We have our annual Blue vs Green meet this coming Saturday and then welcome a handful of top 25 teams at the FGCU Invite. It was great to have this weekend to travel with the team and watch them compete."
In the preliminary events Sunday, FGCU advanced eight swimmers to the 'A' finals before deciding to depart early. Also, three Eagle swimmers in Linda Shaw (Leeds, United Kingdom/Roundhay HS), Melissa Marinheiro (Davie, Fla./Broward HS) and Alexis Simpson (Beckley, W.Va./Gulf Coast HS) added 23 points for the Green and Blue in the 1650 free.
Up next, FGCU returns to Fort Myers to hold the annual Green/Blue Scrimmage Saturday, Oct. 1 at 10 a.m. before welcoming a pair of top-tier opponents for the FGCU Classic the following weekend.
Nova Southeastern
Typically hosted in Gainesville to start each season and due to renovations at the O'Connell Natatorium, the Nova Southeastern University men's and women's swimming teams hosted the All-Florida Invitational at the NSU Aquatic Complex for the first time in program history Sept. 23-25. Closing out the meet in competitive fashion on Sunday, the men's team finished second overall with 894 points, while the women's team finished fourth with 617 points.
Both Florida's men's and women's teams finished with at the top as well as individually. The UF women finished first with 1,076 points topping second place Miami (744) and Florida Gulf Coast (692). The men finished with 1,099 points topping both NSU and Keiser. In addition, Florida individuals earned the high point Most Outstanding Male and Female Awards. Florida's Maxime Rooney took the men's individual award with 101 points, while Mikayla Sargent finished with 102 individual points to claim the women's award.
For NSU, it was a great day with the team earning five separate NCAA Division II provisional qualifying times on the final day. Newcomer Franco Lupoli finished third overall in the mile (1,650 freestyle), but posted a provisional qualifying time of 15:54.33 in the event. Emma Wahlstrom followed with the second provisional qualifying time on the day in the women's 200 backstroke. With a third-place finish in the event, she provisionally qualified with a time of 2:03.11.
A 2015 individual national champion in the 100 freestyle, NSU's Thiago Sickert kept the streak going in the 100 free posting a winning time of 45.18 to provisionally qualify early in the season. As the competition began to wind down, Malin Westman's winning time of 2:19.08 in the women's 200 breaststroke event gave NSU four NCAA B-cut times on the day.
The Sharks closed out the day with an exciting, down to the wire men's 400-freestyle relay event. Going toe-to-toe with one of the top Division I programs in the country, NSU's A-relay (Till Barthel, Victor Tarin, Lupoli, Sickert) pushed the Gators A-relay to the very end. Finishing just two-tenths of a second behind, the Sharks finished second in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:02.58, but it was enough to post NSU's fifth NCAA provisional qualifying time to close out the three-day event.
Other top performances from the Sharks included a win in the men's 200 breaststroke by Anton Lobanov with a time of 2:02.96. Wahlstrom narrowly missed her fifth B-cut in the women's 100-free finishing just three-tenths of a second off with a time of 52.45. Madison Yelle also just missed a provisional cut in the mile (1,650 freestyle) with a time of 17:39.86. Marco Aldabe was second in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:51.37, while Thomas Rutherford finished third in the 200 butterfly at 1:57.37.
Both the Sharks men and women will be back in action when they go on the road for the first time this season to Lakeland, Fla., to swim against Sunshine State Conference rival Florida Southern. The meet begins at 2 p.m.