Alia Atikinson, Elizabeth Pelton Close Out Strong Meets at Florida Gold Coast Senior Championships

PLANTATION, Florida, February 19. ANOTHER spate of strong times from the women at the Florida Gold Coast Championships went up on the scoreboard in Plantation, Fla.

SoFlo's Alia Atkinson crushed the women's 100-yard breaststroke a day after storming to the win in the 200-yard event. Atkinson threw down a time of 58.89 for the victory this evening. That swim smashed her personal best of 59.43 and made her only the 13th member of the sub-59 club. In fact, she moved to 11th on the overall list in front of Rebecca Ejdervik (58.90) and behind Laura Sogar (58.83). Atkinson also won the women's 50 fly earlier in the evening with a 24.29. Notably, T2's Katie Hoff continued to perform well in some off events as she placed second to Atkinson in the 100 breast with a 1:01.44.

T2's Elizabeth Pelton also has a strong night of swimming. She leadoff T2's winning 400-yard medley relay with a 100-yard back time of 51.87. That time nearly bettered her 16th-ranked personal best of 51.70 set at the Maryland Swimming Championships in 2011. She also captured the women's 200-yard IM title in 1:53.92, besting her personal best of 1:54.47 from the 2010 Maryland Swimming Championships. Pelton jumped up to 12th all time in the events history. Hoff finished second behind Pelton with a 1:55.17, while T2's Karie Haglund took third in 2:03.69.

To open up the night, T2's Anne-Marie Botek, Karie Haglund, Bridget Halligan and Ksenia Golovkina won the women's 200 medley relay in 1:42.36. Meanwhile, T2's Erika Erndl topped the women's 50-yard free in 22.75 with Botek placing second in 22.86.

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