GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida men’s and women’s swimming team qualified 14 swimmers for the finals of day two of the 2011 SEC Swimming Championships Thursday morning at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Sophomore Sebastien Rousseau (Cape Town, South Africa) captured the prelims of the men’s 200-yard individual medley with a first-place time of 1:44.65, which ranks second in the NCAA in 2011-11. Placing right behind him with a personal-best time of 1:44.84 was freshman Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland), who swam the fastest time in the country by a freshman in the event (fourth-quickest overall). Cieslak’s time was also good for ninth place in school history. Senior captain Mike Joyce (Voorhees, N.J.) also qualified for the finals with a personal-best NCAA “B” cut time of 1:46.54.
Other UF men swimming top-10 NCAA times Thursday morning included senior Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill.) and freshman Connor Signorin (East Windsor, N.J.). Competing in the men’s 500-yard freestyle, Dwyer finished third with the sixth-fastest time in the NCAA this year (season-best 4:19.27), while Signorin finished just behind him in fifth with a personal-best 4:19.80, giving him the 10th-fastest time in the national this year (third-quickest by a freshman). Senior Balazs Gercsak (Budapest, Hungary) and junior Jeffrey Raymond (Davie, Fla.) also qualified for finals, finishing with NCAA “B” cut times of 4:20.26 and 4:20.77, respectively.
Finishing it off for the Gator men Thursday morning with NCAA qualifying times were senior Brett Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) and freshman Brad deBorde (Longwood, Fla.). Fraser took fifth in the 50 free with a time of 19.73, while deBorde nearly caught him with a personal-best 19.76. deBorde’s time marked the fastest by a freshman in school history.
In women’s competition, junior Sarah Bateman (Orlando, Fla.) finished second in the 50 free (22.41) behind Auburn’s Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, who broke the SEC and pool record with a nation-leading time of 22.14. Bateman’s time tied her season best, while also tying for eighth-quickest nationally this season.
Touching the wall third in the women’s 200 IM was junior Shara Stafford (Topeka, Kan.), whose 1:57.51 finish was the fourth-fastest in school history and the 10th-quickest nationally this season.
Freshman Elizabeth Beisel (North Kingstown, R.I.) started off the day for the UF women with a fourth-place personal-best time of 4:40.41 in the 500 free. Beisel’s time was ninth in school history and the ninth-fastest mark in the country this season (third-quickest by a freshman). Finishing in fifth was sophomore Jamie Bohunicky (Gainesville, Fla.), whose personal-best time of 4:41.61 was the 10th-fastest in school history. Sophomore Corinne Showalter (Sarasota, Fla.) also swam a NCAA qualifying time, clocking in at 4:42.17 to capture the last spot in tonight’s finals.
