This week saw more than few statement swims from Florida powerhouse Nova Southeastern University at the Spartan Invitational. Catch up on the biggest swims from that meet and who hit automatic qualifying times for NCAA’s in this week’s edition of the Division II Meet Recap!
Meet Of The Week: Spartan Invitational
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
This week Sunshine State Conference rivals Nova Southeastern University, University of Tampa, and Florida Southern competed at the 2016 Spartan Invitational, hosted at the Long Center pool in Clearwater, Florida. Tampa was the big winner last year for both the men and the women, but Nova wasn’t at that meet last year. This year, the Sharks came out in a big way, with their women winning the team title while the Tampa men came away as the highest placing Division II team in attendance.
Overall, Nova had some of the biggest performances of the meet, with eight individual automatic qualifying times throughout the four day competition. Those times will have a big impact on the current national rankings in addition to where teams may fall at NCAA’s. Here is a short list some of those impressive swims from Nova Southeastern:
- Senior Emma Wahlstrom posting A cuts in the 500 free (4:47.05), 200 free (1:46.43), and 200 backstroke (1:57.60). That 200 free just nips her best time in the event from NCAA’s last year, but the 500 is a more than 7 second drop from her previous best and gives her the fastest time in the country. Her 200 backstroke time was also a 4 second drop and makes her the fastest in the country in that event.
- Junior Anton Lobanov, who hit a A cuts in the 100 (52.40) and 200 (1:55.88) breaststrokes. Those are Lobanov’s fastest fall semester breaststroke times, setting him up well to make a run at his D2 records in the events at the end of the year.
- Junior Malin Westman, who also made an A cut in the 100 breast (1:01.75) and just cleared her best time by .04. With 5 women already under 1:02, this is shaping up to be one of the events to watch at NCAA’s in March.
- Junior Franco Lupoli making an A cut in the 500 free (4:22.81) and the 1,650 (15:20.27) His 500 was a best time by 4 seconds and makes Lupoli the second fastest in the nation this season, while the 1,650 just snuck under the A cut and makes him the fastest in the country so far this year.
Other notable swims included Tampa Sophie Long in the 100 butterfly (55.48), Tampa Brett Saunders in the 400 IM (3:51.05), both school records for the Spartans. Saunders time was also an NCAA A cut in the 400 IM and moves him to fourth in the country. Florida Southern senior Marco Palacios was also impressive in the 100 backstroke, where he posted the second fastest time so far this year (47.82).
All indications point to the Sunshine State Conference Meet being as close as ever at the end of this year. Nova Southeastern entered this meet as the favorite among the three SSC teams, with their men’s and women’s teams ranked #2 and #4, respectively, in the nation. Tampa is the current defending conference champions for both the men and women, and while their men came away scoring 100 more points than Nova their women’s team was second to the Sharks by 84 points. All three teams will take a break from competition until January, and all three will meet each other again at the Sunshine State Conference Championships. That meet runs from February 16th through February 19th.
UC San Diego vs. CSU East Bay (women only)
Photo Courtesy: Kyle Staggs
University of California – San Diego and California State University – East Bay clashed last Friday at UC-San Diego on a rainy afternoon. UC-San Diego is the reigning Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference (PCSC) Champions, with CSU – East bay was runner-up, and the Tritons came away with a win again on Friday, taking the meet 148-109. In an unusual departure from most collegiate meets, the two PCSC teams competed in long course meters.
The #6 ranked Tritons won nine of the fourteen contested events against #18 CSU – East Bay. The only multiple event winner from the meet was junior Julia Toronczak, who won the 100 (1:08.93) and 200 (2:23.68) backstroke events. The Tritons also completed three separate 1-2-3 event sweeps throughout the meet. Freshman Kaitlyn Ritchy led a sweep of the 800 freestyle (9:44.72) along with juniors Haley Hamza (9:51.02) and Stephanie Sin (9:56.42). Hamza also placed second between freshman Casey Brotherton (4:42.27) and sophomore Regan Eickert (4:48.65) in the 400 freestyle, while junior Jayna Wittenbrink (1:06.61) led sophomore Emily Lambert (1:09.16) and freshman Brooke Miles (1:09.25) in the 100 butterfly. Full results of the meet can be found here.
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