UT Women First, Men Second Heading to Final Day
Spartans set three more school records on third day of meet.
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The University of Tampa women's swimming team has held the lead for three days with one day remaining in the 2019 Sunshine State Conference Women's Swimming Championships while the Spartan men are within striking distance at the two spot.
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
The Spartans enjoyed more school record performances on day three, including McKenzie Street's time of 1:02.32 in the 100 Breast and Courtney Sherwood's 2:00.72 in the 200 Fly. Brian Valedon's school record in the 200 Fly was a gold medal performance and a new SSC meet record with a time of 1:45.56.
Maslova captured the 200-butterfly in a meet and conference record 1:58.65, which was also an NCAA automatic qualifying time. She had already won both individual medley events and hit an NCAA "A" time in one of those as well. Maslova ended her night by teaming up with Madison Allen, Laurel Fink, and Emma Sundstedt for a win in the 800-freestyle relay. That was also Sundstedt's second gold medal of the night after she had won the 500-free with an NCAA automatic qualifying time much earlier. However, those results still left the Sharks a little short of the Spartans in the team standings, with Tampa on top 717-692.
The Spartans got a 1-2 finish from McKenzie Street and Elizaveta Bazarova in the 100-breast and got three swimmers into the championship finals in that event compared to the Sharks' one, a key element in their 25-point lead. Florida Southern was in third place with 286 points.
Meanwhile, Florida Southern senior Matthew Holmes won his third individual gold medal on the men's side, Tampa junior Brian Valedon set a new meet record in the 200-fly, and the Florida Southern 800-freestyle relay team also etched its name in the SSC Championship record book. Those two schools are still chasing Nova Southeastern, however, with Sharks on top with 668 points. Tampa is second with 590, and Florida Southern is third with 571.
Holmes had already swept the two individual medley events prior to Saturday night before picking up his third win in as many nights. This one came in the 100-breaststroke, which he swam in 54.60 seconds to edge out Nova's Cory Klemm by 0.07 seconds. Holmes later anchored the Moccasins' winning 800-freestyle relay squad that included Nico Campbell, Luka Planinc and Charles Gotsch, with their time of 6:30.02 breaking the previous SSC meet record for that event.
Nova Southeastern retained the overall lead though and will take a 78-point lead into the final day of the meet.
Women's 500 Freestyle Medalists:
1. Emma Sundstetdt SO Nova Southeastern 4:50.53
2. Katie Moore SR Florida Southern 4:51.23
3. Jessie Tobin SO Tampa 4:57.66
Men's 500 Freestyle Medalists:
1. Vincent Lijoi JR Nova Southeastern 4:26.12
2. Luka Planinc SR Florida Southern 4:26.30
3. Cole Smith FR Florida Southern 4:30.44
Women's 100 Backstroke Medalists:
1. Jenna Johns FR Nova Southeastern 55.04
2. Karolina Smylek FR Lynn 55.48
3. Suzanne Afchain SR Nova Southeastern 56.32
Men's 100 Backstroke Medalists:
1. Brandon Dyck SO Florida Southern 47.94
2. Emanuele Rossi SR Florida Tech 48.54
3. Luke Hene JR Tampa 48.62
Women's 100 Breaststroke Medalists:
1. McKenzie Street SR Tampa 1:02.32
2. Elizaveta Bazarova FR Tampa 1:02.60
3. Sarah Hughes SR Lynn 1:02.96
Men's 100 Breastroke Medalists:
1. Matt Holmes SR Florida Southern 54.60
2. Cory Klemm SR Nova Southeastern 54.67
3. Henrik Dahrendorff JR Saint Leo 54.69
Women's 200 Butterfly Medalists:
1. *Sasha Maslova FR Nova Southeastern 1:58.65
2. Courtney Sherwood FR Tampa 2:00.72
3. Caroline Oster SR Nova Southeastern 2:02.53
*set SSC Championship and overall SSC records
Men's 200 Butterfly Medalists:
1. *Brian Valedon JR Tampa 1:45.56
2. Magnus Poulsen JR Nova Southeastern 1:46.08
3. Miguel Bernotti SO Florida Southern 1:46.33
*set SSC Championship record
Women's 800 Freestyle Relay Medalists:
1. Nova Southeastern 7:25.81
2. Tampa 7:28.10
3. Florida Southern 7:32.34
Men's 800 Freestyle Relay Medalists:
1. *Florida Southern 6:30.02
2. Nova Southeastern 6:35.48
3. Tampa 6:35.35
*set SSC Championship record