Division II Meet Of The Week: Tampa Sweeps Florida Southern

Photo Courtesy: Tampa Athletics

In what may be seen as somewhat of an upset, the Tampa Spartans swept 2016 Sunshine State Conference Champions Florida Southern in their first dual meet on Friday. The Spartan men prevailed 123-82, while the women won 118-87. Florida Southern started off the meet with wins in the 400 medley relay, and while they continued to win events throughout the meet they couldn’t hold off Tampa’s depth to gain an advantage.

On the women’s side the Spartans won six of the eleven contested events, with their depth in several events proving to be the difference. Junior Britt Bayes led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 1,000 freestyle (10:47.20), while senior Marisa Barton was a double winner in the 50 (24.45) and 100 (52.92) freestyles. Sophomore Brittany Murphy led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 backstroke later in the meet before the Spartan women closed with a win in the 400 free relay. The Spartan men won one more event than the women, claiming their first victory in a meet over Florida Southern since the 2010-2011 season. Senior Martin Hammer won both of his individual events, taking first in the 50 (20.70) and 100 (46.55) freestyles, while also contributing to the winning 400 freestyle relay to close the meet.

While Florida Southern fell, there were still bright spots in their performance. For the women, junior Peyton Breault took the 200 (1:57.19) and 500 (5:15.57) freestyles, while classmate Jacinda Whittenburg recorded wins in the 400 IM (4:34.38) and 200 (2:24.59) breaststroke. On the men’s side, the Mocassins 1-2’ed both the 200 free and 200 breaststroke, the former led by newcomer Noah Franz, a transfer from NC State, while also opening the meet with a win in the 400 medley relay. As defending conference champions, it will be interesting to see how this season may shake up what is a very competitive top 3 teams in the Sunshine State Conference. Florida Southern will take on Florida Tech and Keiser University next week, while Tampa will next face off against Keiser University in November. You can find a link to the full meet results below.

Florida Southern at Tampa

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Lenish Laishram

7 years ago

wow freestyle

Michael Cohn

7 years ago

Kevin Fink

7 years ago

Reply to Michael Cohn

But do they even lift?