Members of the Florida State swimming teams competed at the 2015 Speedo Southern Sectional Meet in Orlando, Fla., which ran from July 9-12 and was held at the YMCA Aquatic Center.<\/p>\n
The Seminoles showed major progress by improving on 56 entry times from 32 swimmers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe swam very well this weekend,\u201d FSU head coach Frank Bradley<\/strong> said. \u201cThere were a ton of improvements and a lot of career best times. I was very pleased and proud of the effort all the way around this weekend and I love the spirit of the team heading into the season after this meet. We still have a few more heading to nationals this summer, but this was a great showing by these athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n The majority of the FSU swimmer represented Club Seminole, which took fourth in the men\u2019s team standings and placed seventh in the combined scores. Florida State had athletes score points in 27 races on top of winning five.<\/p>\n Securing two wins in the distance races was rising freshman Summer Finke<\/strong>, who qualified for the 2016 US Olympic Trials in both the 400m and 800m free races. Finke was victorious in the 800m free (8:41.57) and the 1500m free (16:36.23) as both events were career best marks.<\/p>\n She added silver in the 400m free with a time of 4:14.68, which also was another personal best time.<\/p>\n \u201cSummer did fantastic,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cShe absolutely crushed it. She\u2019s been in Tallahassee for a few weeks and we\u2019re really liking what we\u2019re seeing from her. I can\u2019t wait to see how she does her first collegiate season.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to the distance events, Finke also swam the 200m free where she placed seventh (2:04.51) and 16th in the 200 back (2:26.02) while representing St. Petersburg Aquatics.<\/p>\n Also winning events were rising junior Jason Coombs<\/strong> and former Seminoles Jared Pike<\/strong> and Connor Knight<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Coombs led the way in the 50m breast with a career best of 28.74, finishing one one-hundredth ahead of Pike (28.75), but Pike took the 100m breast with a season best time of 1:02.50.<\/p>\n \u201cCoombs had a solid meet,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cI thought our professional guys were great and I was very pleased with Jared\u2019s 100. He looked great in that race.\u201d<\/p>\n Both the 50m and 100m breast were strong for Club Seminole as redshirt freshman Rafael Van Leeuwaarde<\/strong> placed third in the 50m behind Coombs and Pike with a career best time of 29.07 after taking sixth place at 1:05.36 in the 100m.<\/p>\n Also placing fourth in the 100m breast was rising sophomore Storm Hewitt<\/strong>, who touched with a career best mark of 1:04.60.<\/p>\n Knight grabbed a win in the 200m fly with a final time of 2:00.08. He was also second in the 50m fly (24.19) and the 100m fly (53.02), touching ahead of the third place finishing Pavel Sankovich<\/strong> in both races.<\/p>\n \u201cConnor did very well,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cHe will be one of those guys that heads to nationals later this summer, so I think he\u2019s in a great spot to improve in the beginning of August. Pavel was solid. This meet isn\u2019t where his focus is, he\u2019s getting ready for the World Championships, so he\u2019s right where he needs to be in training. He was back home training and he came back and looks great. August should be a good month for those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n Earning a national cut time in the 100m fly was rising senior Cole Hensley<\/strong>, who touched in fourth with a career best time of 54.61. Hensley also placed fifth in both the 50m fly (24.70) and 200m fly (2:03.48).<\/p>\n \u201cCole dropped some significant time,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cHe did very well. He will be a strength for us this season.\u201d<\/p>\n Rising senior Josie Cuda<\/strong> competed in the top heats of the 100m, 200m, and 400m free races in addition to the 100m fly, where she captured best times in all four races.<\/p>\n Cuda finished seventh in the 100m free (57.72), fourth in the 200m free (2:03.61), sixth in the 400m free (4:22.65) and eighth in the 100m fly (1:03.17).<\/p>\n \u201cThat was an excellent effort by Josie,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cShe stepped up and performed very well.\u201d<\/p>\n