FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern swimming and diving teams are looking to defend its title at the 2012 Sunshine State Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. The meet is set to kick off Wednesday, Feb. 15 at the Long Center in Clearwater, Fla. Competition will continue through Saturday, Feb. 18.
Six SSC member institutions will field teams in the swimming championship. Florida Southern, Florida Tech, Nova Southeastern, Rollins, Saint Leo, and Tampa will vie for the league titles. Five institutions with the exception of Florida Tech competed in the first ever SSC Swimming Championship a year ago. Tampa won the inaugural SSC women's swimming title, while the Sharks took home the men's crown.
Both swimming and diving teams have been a dominate force in the conference all season posting a perfect, undefeated 4-0 record in conference meets.
The 2012 meet also promises to be a competitive one. Three SSC women's teams are ranked in the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll. Tampa is ranked seventh, while Nova Southeastern is 11th, and Florida Southern is 12th. In the men's CSCAA poll, Tampa is slated 10th, followed by Florida Southern at No. 11 and Nova Southeastern at No. 13. Saint Leo is also ranked at No. 22.
Heading into the conference championship, four SSC swimmers have already qualified for the NCAA Division II Championship. Among the four swimmers is NSU’s
Erin Black (Jr., Fort Myers, Fla.), who has notched an automatic qualifying time in the 500-freestyle.
Competition at the Long Center will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, with timed finals in the 1,000-freestyle and the 800-freestyle relay.
On Thursday, Feb. 16, preliminaries will be conducted in the 500-free, 200-individual medley, and the 50-freestyle. At 6 p.m., finals will be held for each of those events. The 200 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay will also be contested Thursday evening.
Friday, Feb. 17, will feature a busy morning of preliminary races at 10 a.m. The 400-individual medley, 100-butterfly, 200-freestyle, 100-breaststroke, and 100-backstroke will hit the pool, with finals for all events taking place at 6 p.m. on Friday. Additionally, the 200-medley relay will be held in Friday's final session.
Saturday's final day of competition will begin with 10 a.m. preliminaries in the 200-backstroke, 100-freestyle, 200-breaststroke, 200-butterfly, and the 1,650-freestyle. The fastest swimmers in those events will advance to Saturday's finals at 5 p.m., which will also feature the 400-freestyle relay.
Check back for daily recaps and results following the morning preliminary races and evening finals which will be posted on
NSUSharks.com.
For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit
www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by
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