Florida Southern Powers Past Saint Leo For Sweep

SAINT LEO, Florida, October 25. FLORIDA Southern put together a pair of strong road wins with a 143-119 triumph over Saint Leo’s men, while the women rolled to a 159-94 victory today in an NCAA Division II matchup. The meet featured a more unorthodox sprint-heavy schedule with 50s of all strokes up for grabs and scored as part of the team tally.

Florida Southern’s Luis Rojas continued his strong early season success. He clipped the NCAA B cut in the 200-yard free with a victorious time of 1:41.82. He then finished third in the 100 back with a 51.76. Rojas also posted a 24.38 leadoff 50-yard back for FSC’s fourth-place B team in the 200 medley relay to open the afternoon.

Saint Leo’s Matheus Assis smoked the men’s 100-yard fly in a near NCAA B cut time of 50.57, before returning with a blazing 46.10 to clear the NCAA B cut in the men’s 100-yard free for the win. Assis also swam in both relays. He clocked a 22.47 butterfly leg as part of Saint Leo’s 200 medley relay win in 1:33.54. Pawel Trenda (23.12), Shaad Fincher (26.84) and Milton Requejo (21.11) joined him in victory. Assis finished the meet with a 22.23 leadoff in the 200 free relay.

Assis’ teammate Pawel Trenda had a good night as well. He raced to a 50.72 in the men’s 100-yard backstroke for the win, just off the NCAA B cut. On top of his relay success, Trenda also took third in the 200 free in 1:42.44.

Meanwhile, Juan Tolosa earned the men’s 1000-yard free title in 9:38.37, before sweeping the distance free events with a 4:41.54 in the 500 free.

Thomas Nguyen won the 50 back in 24.18, while Allan Gutierrez clinched the 50 fly in 22.70. Dylan Lake won the always exciting 100 IM in 55.95.

Although the dual meet loss was already a lock, Saint Leo still closed out the meet in style with Patrick Ceddia (21.01), Dillon Kasso (21.49), Shaad Fincher (20.46) and Michael Marion (20.60) winning the men’s 200-yard free relay in an NCAA B cut time of 1:23.56. That’s definitely an impressive swim in the middle of heavy fall training.

Fincher early topped the 50 breast in 27.48, then doubled with a 1:00.17 to win the 100 breast. Additionall, Requejo captured the 50 free in 21.37.

Florida Southern’s Kelsey Gouge missed the NCAA B cut by just half-a-second in the 100-yard breast with a 1:05.96 as she crushed the heat by more than four seconds in the highlight of the women’s meet. Gouge swept the breaststroke events with a 30.19 to win the 50 breast.

Gouge also posted a 30.22 breaststroke leg for FSC’s 200 medley relay win of 1:49.95. Lauren Reynolds (28.28), Alex Ballard (26.40) and Cassie Ley (25.05) produced the other legs. Gouge closed out her night with a 1:00.62 in the 100 IM that would have won the event, but was exhibitioned.

FSC’s Heather Burns won the 1000 free in 10:39.01, the immediately returned to double with a 1:59.14 to win the 200 free just 10 minutes later. Reynolds followed up her 50 back leadoff with a 28.04 to win the 50 back individual race. Reynolds then doubled up with a 59.73 to win the 100 back.

Catie Carden snatched the 100 fly title in 1:00.72, while Riley McClendon won the 500 free for FSC with a 5:17.94. Ballard notched a win in the 50 fly with a 27.03.

Bianca Muniz scratched out a win for Saint Leo with a 25.49 in the 50 free, before doubling up with a 54.95 as the top bright spot for the hosts.

Also, Saint Leo closed out the night with a legitimate win as Paula Carvajal (25.93), Rachel Cunio (25.08), Kristy Marques (25.90) and Muniz (24.74) finished first in the 200 free relay with a 1:41.65 even though Florida Southern exhibitioned the rest of its relay teams.

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