Florida State vs. Clemson

TALLAHASSEE, Florida, January 17. THE Florida State swimming and diving team earned head coach Neil Harper his 200th victory as a Seminole with the men's 189-106 victory over Clemson at the Bobby E. Leach Center Pool. The women were defeated by the Tigers 151-149.

"It's a great accomplishment and something I'm very proud of," Harper said. "We've got a great program here with great history and tradition. I want all of the alums, the current swimmers and all of the future Seminoles to feel a part of it and let's go for 300."

"I didn't know that until today, but that's really special," senior Kyle Young said. "That's amazing that he has that many victories here."

While the men dominated Clemson, the women's meet came down to the final race of the day the 400 free relay. The Seminoles were up 141-140 going into the event and had the lead going into the last leg of the realy, but the Tiger's Michelle Parkhurst out-touched junior Shanda Casella at the wall to win the race and the meet by .2 seconds.

"We were in a position to win the meet and that's a credit to all of our girls," Harper said. "The fact that we were able to put a relay together that could rival theirs because that's one of their strong points says a lot about our team. It think our team really took a step forward today."

The women were led by the divers who went one-two-three on both boards. Junior Aleia Monden won the one-meter with a score of 283.73 while sophomore Katherine Adham won the three-meter with a total of 292.95.

"The divers really kept us in this meet with their performance," Harper said. "They are the ones who gave us a chance after we started slow."

"I think the girls did an awesome job," Monden said. "It was great to see everyone perform so well and knowing that everyone around us was cheering was really motivating."

On the men's side it was the senior swimmers who really gave the Garnet and Gold a boost. Jarryd Botha, Ed Denton, Jimmy Holway and Kyle Young all won at least one event for the Seminoles on senior day. Botha won the 100 back (49.98) and the 100 fly (49.77), Denton won the 100 free (46.24), Holway won the 50 free (21.33) and Young won the 1000 free (9:15.77) and the 500 free (4:29.22)

"They've been leaders for us over the last three or four years," Harper said. "Today was a highlight for them and that's what you get from your senior leadership and they came through in front of one of the biggest crowds we've had here."

"I just wanted to have fun today," Young said. "I thought it was a good meet and the guys put in a lot of effort today."

In diving it was senior Dan Frebel who wowed the crowed with his sweep on the one-meter (327.00) and three-meter (376.73) boards.

"This was the senior meet and my dad came in from Indiana so I wanted to do well for him," Frebel said. "To see that I'm progressing in my diving throughout my career is great."

Next up for Florida State will be it's the final home meet of the season against Auburn and Texas A&M on Saturday, February 7, at the Bobby E. Leach Center.

Special thanks to Florida State for contributing this report.

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