The
Florida Gator men’s and women’s teams responded from a slow morning to sweep
all 14 swimming events and 15 of 16 events overall on the second day of
competition at the Pinch A Penny All Florida Invitational.
Sophomores
Corey Main (Auckland, New Zeland) and Sinead Russell (Burlington,
Ontario, Canada) each won the 100 backstroke and 200 freestyle to lead their
respective teams. The Gators witnessed a dramatic improvement in times from the
morning to the evening sessions, which resulted in 8 NCAA provisional cuts,
giving the Gators 14 NCAA B cuts through two days.
Scores:
Both
Gator teams are in first place. The women lead second place Florida State
730-534. The men lead second place FSU 841-658.
Sound
Bites: “I
was very disappointed in our team’s morning performance. It was very
lackluster. Tonight, after I talked about the corrections that they needed to
make, we were very enthusiastic and aggressive with our swims. Outstanding
performances and lots of doubles, but the problem is that they have to understand
that you have to do this in the morning because that is how the end of the year
is structured. The purpose of this meet was to learn about the end of the year,
so hopefully we learned a lot from today.”- Head Coach Gregg Troy
“Corey
Main was a late addition to our team last year and is just now hitting stride.
Sinead Russell was very good today and is a phenomenal athlete and racer. Elizabeth
Beisel (North Kingstown, Rhode Island) was good tonight. She doesn’t like
not touching the wall first, but we’re swimming her in different places that
aren’t her expertise because we want to see younger people swim. Lindsey
McKnight (Coral Springs, Fla.) and Natalie Hinds (Midland, Texas)
had some great swims tonight. I’m interested to see how we can learn and
improve from here.”-Head Coach Gregg Troy
Clean
Sweeps: The
Gator men’s 400 individual medley put together a clean sweep, taking first
through fourth. Red-shirt senior Sebastien Rousseau (Cape Town, South
Africa) registered a first place performance in 3:49.29 and was trailed in
order by junior Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (Madrid, Spain-3:49.47), junior Matt
Elliott (Peoria, Ill.-3:55.73) and senior Connor Signorin (East
Windsor, N.J.-3:56.95). The Gator repeated the feat in the 200 free, as Main
(1:37.69) paved the way and was followed by junior Dan Wallace (North
Berwick, Scotland- 1:38.61), senior Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland-1:39.06)
and freshman Mitch D’Arrigo (Rome, Italy- 1:39.17).
First
to the Wall:
·
McKnight
kicked off the individual portion of the finals with a victory in 400 IM,
winning in 4:21.51.
·
Hinds
captured the 100 butterfly in mark of 53.91.
·
Cieslak
earned victory in the 100 fly (47.36).
·
Russell
won the first of her two events, the 200 free, in a time of 1:48.16. She
brought home the 100 back win in 54.40.
·
Main
added a win in the 100 back (47.70).
·
Senior
Hilda Luthersdottir (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland) touched first in the 100
breaststroke (1:03.26)
·
Elliott
placed first in the 100 breast (55.52).
Relay
Magic: For
the second consecutive day, the Gators swept all four relay events. To kick off
the final session, the women’s 200 medley group of Russell, Luthersdottir, Hinds
and senior Ellese Zalewski (Melbourne, Australia) touched in 1:41.99.
The men’s foursome of Main, Elliott, Rousseau and deBorde followed up with a
victory in the same event in 1:28.75
To
cap off a perfect day for the women, the Gators delivered a 1-2 finish in the
800 free relay. Zalewski, McKnight, Russell and Beisel posted a time of 7:19.27
and were followed in second by freshman Danielle Valley (Bradenton, Fla.),
Hinds, sophomore Ashlee Linn (Sarasota, Fla,) and sophomore Taylor
Roy (Woodstock, Ga.). The men equaled the women’s 800 free finish, tallying
a 1-2 finish. In the first race in the event since winning the 2013 NCAA title,
the 800 free group of Wallace, junior Carlos Omana (Miami, Fla.),
Rousseau and Main came home first in 6:32.82 and were followed by Signorin, D’Arrigo,
Cieslak and Solaeche-Gomez.
