ORLANDO, Florida, February 22. AFTER leading the team races throughout the meet, the University of Tampa women and Florida Southern University men successfully defended their Sunshine State Conference titles on Saturday evening at the Orlando YMCA Aquatic Center. Florida Southern’s Alli Crenshaw and St. Leo’s Matheus Assis won the Women’s and Men’s Swimmer of the Meet awards for their outstanding performances during the four-day meet.<\/p>\n
Sunshine State Conference Press Release<\/strong><\/p>\n The University of Tampa\u2019s women\u2019s swimming team captured its third Sunshine State Conference Women\u2019s Swimming Championship, second-straight, in just the fourth year of the championship event.<\/p>\n The Spartans won their third conference championship meet with 868 points. Florida Southern finished second with 796 points, and Nova Southeastern finished third with 600 points.<\/p>\n Florida Tech finished fourth with a total of 365 points, while Saint Leo took fifth with 364 points. Rollins (311 points) and Lynn (274 points) followed in the sixth and seventh spots, respectively.<\/p>\n Florida Southern sophomore Alli Crenshaw claimed the 2014 SSC Women\u2019s Swimmer of the Meet award after posting 57 points. Her teammate, sophomore Lauren Reynolds, also cumulated 57 points. With tiebreak of accomplished overall conference and meet records accumulated during the championship event, Crenshaw earned the honors with her 800-yard freestyle relay leadoff leg (200-yard freestyle) meet record of 1:49.73. It is Florida Southern\u2019s second Women\u2019s Swimmer of the Meet award winner. Mary O\u2019Sullivan won the first-ever award in 2011.<\/p>\n The final day of the conference championship saw two more overall conference records and seven conference championship meet records fall.<\/p>\n Tampa\u2019s Catherine Parker set a new overall conference and conference championship meet record in the women\u2019s 200-yard butterfly preliminary with a time of 2:02.19. Her time was good enough to earn the top spot in the finals where she went on to win gold.<\/p>\n Saint Leo\u2019s Nicole Weber also set a new overall conference and conference championship meet record during the preliminary races. Weber earned the top spot in the finals of the women\u2019s 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:15.52. Weber went on to win gold in the event, and broke her own record again with a time of 2:14.48. Good enough for an NCAA automatic qualifying time.<\/p>\n The 2014 SSC Swimming Championship saw a total of seven new overall conference records and 19 new conference championship meet record between the men\u2019s and women\u2019s swimmers.<\/p>\n Florida Southern won its second consecutive Sunshine State Conference men\u2019s swimming title at the Orlando YMCA Aquatic Center on Saturday.<\/p>\n The Moccasins earned their second title in just the fourth year of the conference championship with a total of 914 points. Tampa claimed second with 659 points, while Nova Southeastern was third with 736 points.<\/p>\n Florida Tech finished fourth with 437 points, Saint Leo earned 323 points for fifth and Rollins was sixth with 222 points.<\/p>\n Saint Leo\u2019s sophomore Matheus Assis won the 2014 SSC Men\u2019s Swimmer of the Meet award after posting 60 points. Assis also won the award in 2013 with 60 points. The sophomore took gold in three events, including the 50- and 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. Assis broke the conference championship meet records in all three events, including the overall conference record in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.<\/p>\n The final day of the conference championship saw two more overall conference records and seven conference championship meet records fall.<\/p>\n Assis won gold in the 100-yard freestyle with a new meet record time of 44.13 seconds. Florida Southern\u2019s Spencer Rowe earned a new meet record in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:58.01 for gold.<\/p>\n The Moccasins\u2019 Raul Garrastazu also earned a meet record on the final day. The sophomore won gold in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:47.16.<\/p>\n In the final race of the championship, Tampa\u2019s 400-yard freestyle relay team set a new meet record with a time of 2:57.35 to win gold. On the relay team was Martin Hammer, Jordan Augier, Khalid Aldaboos and Jeremy Parker.<\/p>\n In the 200-yard backstroke, Florida Southern\u2019s Thomas Nguyen and Tampa\u2019s Karl Burdis earned NCAA automatic qualifying times. Nuygen won gold with a time of 1:45.20, while Burdis took silver in a time of 1:45.41.<\/p>\n The 2014 SSC Swimming Championship saw a total of seven new overall conference records and 19 new conference championship meet record between the men\u2019s and women\u2019s swimmers.<\/p>\n