Bella Sims Hits A Cut and School Record in 100 Back at Florida Invitational
Bella Sims clocked in at 50.44 seconds in the 100 backstroke to notch an NCAA A cut and school record at the Florida Invitational Florida.
The event in Gainesville, which brought Nova Southeastern to town, covered three days at the O’Connell Center Natatorium in a glorified intrasquad meet with trials and finals. But it brought two schools records and two NCAA A cuts.
Sims swam the time Friday night in finals. Her previous best time of 50.53 seconds came in Dec. 2022 while the freshman was still a high schooler, and her college best was 51.03.
Sims’ time displaces Gemma Spofforth’s long-standing record of 50.46, set in the supersuited era of 2009. Sherridon Dressel’s 50.64 from 2020 was the school’s textile best.
Isabel Ivey went 1:43.03 to take the women’s 200 freestyle. It chips .07 off Caroline Burckle’s 2008 school mark. Ivey had been 1:43.21 for the school’s textile best.
Friday’s other A cut came from the men’s 200 medley relay, in which Adam Chaney, Julian Smith, Joshua Liendo and Macguire McDuff went 1:22.95.
The women’s 200 medley relay clocked in at 1:36.52, with Catie Choate, Molly Mayne, Olivia Peoples and Micayla Cronk.
Emma Weyant was quickest in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:06.42, the fastest of four B cuts. Eight Gators men notched B cuts in the 400 IM, led by Mason Laur’s 3:41.16.
Liendo won the 100 fly in 45.08. McDuff went 1:32.91 to take the 200 free, with Julian Smith following in 1:34.10. Laur, Jake Mitchell, Sean Sullivan and Oskar Lindholm went 6:22.58 to win the 800 free relay.
Grace Rainey and Mayne staged an engrossing race in the 100 breaststroke, the former winning by a tenth in 1:00.78. Raphael Rached Windmuller was 52.97 in the morning in the men’s 100 breast. Johnny Marshall edged Chaney to win the 100 back in 45.81.
Saturday’s swims included Aryan Nehra notching a B cut in the 1,650 freestyle in 15:06.72, about two seconds up on Ben Cote. Caleb Maldari won the 200 back in 1:41.88. Alex Mitchell’s 51.17 won the women’s 100 free, and Daniel Gordon went 44.57 in the 100 free.
Ermmm, no, Gemma Spofforth’s record was set in a textile suit, even though the “supersuits” were available – however, what a great swim by Bella! Go Gators!