Photo Credit: Kyle Staggs<\/p>\n
FORT LAUDERDALE – Five meet records, one NCAA ‘A’ cut and a multitude of NCAA ‘B’ cuts highlighted the first night of finals at the Fifth Annual NSU Sharks Invitational, hosted by Nova Southeastern University.<\/p>\n
The Nova Southeastern University swimming and diving teams are off to a strong start, swimming fourteen NCAA provisional times and breaking two Shark Invitational records.<\/p>\n
The Sharks began the finals session with four NCAA provisional times in the women’s 1000-yard freestyle A-final from the likes of Malin Westman (Fr., Harryda, Sweden), Alexis Diaz (Fr., Summerfield, Fla.), Brooke Munion (So., Bethlehem, Pa.) and Madison Yelle (Fr., Mansfield, Texas). Blake Woodrow (Fr., Fort Myers, Fla.) would then swim a NCAA provisional time of 9:32.28 for a fifth-place finish in the men’s 1000-free A-final.<\/p>\n
The third event of the night, the women’s 200-yard individual medley, featured two NCAA provisional times from Courtney DeVeny (Fr., Estero, Fla.) and Westman who swam times of 2:05.89 and 2:06.45, respectively. Marco Aldabe (So., Alicante, Spain) followed with a first-place finish and NCAA provisional time in the men’s 200-yard individual medley A-final, swimming a time of 1:51.84.<\/p>\n
The attention turned to the women’s 50-yard freestyle A-final, where Bryndis Hansen (So., Akureyri, Iceland) swam a Shark Invitational record and NCAA provisional time of 23.10, good enough to break the school record. Her first place finished was trailed by two more NCAA provisional times coming from Emma Wahlstrom (So., Stockholm, Sweden) and Emma Lawrenz (Sr., Mennetonka, Minn.) who swam times of 23.99 and 24.06, respectively. Thiago Sickert (So., Vila Velha, Brazil) would follow with a NCAA provisional time of 20.22 in the men’s 50-free A-final, good enough for a first-place finish.<\/p>\n
After a 20-minute intermission, the Sharks would close with two more NCAA provisional times in the women’s and men’s 200-yard medley relay A-finals. The women’s A-team consisting of Wahlstrom, Westman, Hansen and Lawrenz swam a first-place NCAA provisional time of 1:43.58. Their time was :01.91 seconds faster than the previous women’s 200-medley relay Shark Invitational record. The men’s A-team consisting of Aldabe, Cheyenne Rodriguez (So., North Bay Village, Fla.), Sickert and Michael Ragan (So., Dacula Ga.) would close the night with a NCAA provisional time of 1:31.42, good enough for a fourth-place finish.<\/p>\n
The women currently sit in third place with a score of 247, while the men also sit in third place with a score of 269.<\/p>\n
The meet will resume tomorrow at 10 a.m. for the day two prelims.<\/p>\n