School Records Fall on Day One at SSC Championships

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The first day of the 2019 Sunshine State Conference Swimming Championships ended with Tampa holding a mere two-point lead over Nova Southeastern in the women's standings (215-213), with each team winning two events and four medals overall. The men's standings had Nova Southeastern in front and Tampa second, separated by 16 points (188-172) though Florida Southern (153 points) worked its way into the gold medal count with a record-setting performance by Matt Holmes.
 
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
 
Top Performances:
Nova Southeastern sophomore Emma Sundstedt started the meet by winning the 1,000-freestyle for the second year in a row, and becoming the first SSC women's swimmer to win that event in back-to-back seasons. Tampa ended up taking the lead in the team standings, however, by winning the 200-medley relay at the end of the night, out-swimming Nova Southeastern by 0.31 seconds for the gold medal.

On the men's side, Holmes successfully defended his SSC title in the men's 200-IM, broke his own conference record (set at last year's national finals) with a time of 1:46.28, and his previous SSC Meet record (also set last year). The senior edged out Tampa's Luke Hene by 0.42 seconds, and both of them hit NCAA automatic qualifying times. The night ended with Nova Southeastern holding on to the lead after winning the 200-medley relay by 0.36 seconds over Tampa, with the Sharks narrowly missing the SSC Championship record.

Tampa Records:
The Spartans wasted little time setting new schools records, establishing three on the first day of the meet. Luke Hene set the school 200 IM record with a time of 1:45.76, while McKenzie Street set the women's 200 IM record with a time of 2:02.25. UT's women's 200 Medley Relay team of Courtney Sherwood, Elizaveta Bazarova, Anja Oca and Megan Waddell set a new record at 1:41.58.
 
Day 1 Medalists (*indicate SSC Championship Meet Records)

Women's 1,000 Freestyle Medalists:                                                                     

1.    Emma Sundstedt    SO   Nova Southeastern    9:56.66

2.    Katie Moore    SR    Florida Southern    10:04.93

3.    Jessie Tobin    SO    Tampa    10:05.79

Men's 1,000 Freestyle Medalists:

1.    Vincent Lijoi    JR    Nova Southeastern    9:11.59

2.    Luka Planinc    SR    Florida Southern    9:17.97

3.    Brian Valedon    JR    Tampa    9:18.88

Women's 200 Individual Medley Medalists:

1.    Sasha Maslova    FR    Nova Southeastern    2:00.89

2.    Kaylee Gassen    JR    Nova Southeastern    2:01.12

3.    Sarah Hughes    SR    Lynn    2:02.10

Men's 200 Individual Medley Medalists:

1.    Matt Holmes    SR    Florida Southern    1:45.34

2.    Luke Hene    JR    Tampa    1:45.76

3.    Matias Lopez    SO    Florida Southern    1:48.63

Women's 50 Freestyle Medalists:

1.    Megan Waddell    JR    Tampa    23.19

2.    Annie Lindstrom    JR    Saint Leo    23.35

3.    Hana Van Loock    SO    Tampa    23.45

Men's 50 Freestyle Medalists:

1.    Aaron James    JR    Tampa    20.12

2.    Christian Huber    FR    Rollins    20.22

3.    Julian Coster    JR    Nova Southeastern    20.26

Women's 200 Medley Relay Medalists:

1.    Tampa    1:41.58

2.    Nova Southeastern    1:41.89

3.    Saint Leo    1:43.23

Men's 200 Medley Relay Medalists:

1.    Nova Southeastern    1:27.95

2.    Tampa    1:28.31

3.    Florida Tech    1:28.94