January 27, 2021

Spartans Mark Return to Sports at Florida State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of Tampa men's and women's swimming teams hit the road for their first meet of the season against the No. 15/21 Florida State University Seminoles and University of North Florida Ospreys on Wednesday afternoon.

The contest was noteworthy as the Spartans became the first Sunshine State Conference team to compete in any sport since last March, which was the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Men's Final: No. 15 Florida State Seminoles 207, Tampa Spartans 55

Women's Final: No. 21 Florida State Seminoles 167, Tampa Spartans 81

Tampa Spartans 186, University of North Florida 64

Location: Morcom Aquatic Center | Tallahassee, Fla.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The meet totaled 30 events, including 15 for the men and 15 for the women.
Tampa's women won two of the events overall.

TOP PERFORMERS (MEN):

Angelo Russo, Gabe Parnell, Yigit Saglam, and Noah Paut made up Tampa's 200 Yard Medley Relay which placed third with a time of 1:32.03.
Ian Morgan finished in third in the 1,000 Yard Freestyle with a time of 9:41.56, just .12 of a second away from second place.
A second-place finish for the Spartans was recorded by Hugo Bustamante in the 100 Yard Backstroke with a time of 49.40.
With a time of 2:05.66, Grant Ruster placed third in the 200 Yard Breaststroke.
Freshman Yigit Saglam made his presence known with the Spartan men's only first-place finish of the meet in the 100 Yard Butterfly with a time of 48.61.
Bustamante, Yannick Smith, Mikael Haugen, and Paut comprised the 200 Yard Freestyle relay that finished third with a time of 1:23.12.

TOP PERFORMERS (WOMEN):

UT's 200 Yard Medley Relay team consisting of Madysen Barnes, Elizaveta Bazarova, Courtney Sherwood, and Hana van Loock placed in third with a time of 1:44.79.
Jessie Tobin was the runner up in the 1,000 Yard Freestyle, finishing second with a time of 10:20.05.
Sophomore Julia Augustsson was the first to win an event for the Spartans, placing first in the 100 Yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:03.23. The race was a close one, with an FSU swimmer finishing .5 half a second after Augustsson.
Tampa kept the momentum going in the next event with Sherwood, and Katie Horan taking the top two places in the 200 Yard Butterfly. Sherwood finished with a time of 2:02.93, and Horan with a time of 2:06.31.
Sherwood then went on to rack up some more points for the Spartans, placing second in the 200 Yard Backstroke with a time of 2:04.10.
With a time of 2:17.79 Augustsson finished second in the 200 Yard Breaststroke.
The Spartans would finish the meet how they started it, taking bronze in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay. Bazarova, and van Lock, were joined by Roma Vrijhof and Johanna Koether to finish with a time of 1:37.32.

UP NEXT:

The Spartans will be back on the blocks when host their first and only home meet of the season against Keiser University this Saturday. The meet will also serve as Senior Day for Tampa and is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. at the UT Aquatics Center.

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