CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men and women's swim teams had a strong showing on day one of the 2020 Sunshine State Conference Championship, garnering three gold medals and posting four NCAA B-cut times and one A-cut. After the completed day of competition, the women's team leads all opponents with a score of 230.5 points, while the men's team are 24 points behind the leader, Tampa, with 187 points.
INSIDE THE MEET:
WOMEN'S TOTAL SCORES: No. 6 Nova Southeastern Sharks (230.5 points, 1st Place)
MEN'S TOTAL SCORES: No. 6 Nova Southeastern Sharks (187 points, 2nd Place)
LOCATION: The Long Center | Clearwater, Fla.
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TOP PERFORMERS:
- Emma Sundstedt started the meet by winning the 1,000-freestyle for the third year in a row with an NCAA A-qualifying time of 9:54.10, becoming the first SSC women's swimmer to win that event in three-consecutive seasons.
- Vincent Lijoi defended his SSC title in the men's 1000 freestyle, claiming the gold with a personal-best time of 9:07.12, completing the event sweep for the Sharks.
- The women's 200 medley relay made up of Cassandra Wright, Caily Friel, Sasha Maslova and Jenna Johns earned the third gold of the day, posting a provisional time of 1:40.39, .08 seconds off the SSC record.
- The men's 200 medley relay team (Martin Hemminghyth, Samuel Brettmann, Magnus Poulsen and Jonathan Yanello) finished in second place, finishing .37 seconds behind first-place Tampa.
- The Sharks brought home four individual silver medals as Maslova and Brettmann posted times of 2:01.48 and 1:46.67 in the 200 IM, respectively, and Johns and Alec Dawson finished in 23.18 and 20.11, respectively, in the 50 freestyle.
- Yanello took the bronze in the 50 free in 20.35.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Kicking off the meet, Maslova, Gassen and Zubero each posted NCAA B-Cut times in the 200 IM, advancing them to the Championship Final in the evening. Molly Griswold finished 10th in the prelims, sending her to the Consolation Final.
- On the men's side, Brettmann, Averchenko and Hohm each posted NCAA B-Cuts as well. Alessandro Xella finished in 1:51.50, finishing in the 11th spot, pushing him to the Consolation Final.
- After the women's 50 freestyle prelims, the Sharks saw six swimmers heading into the finals later that night. Johns finished in second with her NCAA B-Cut time of 23.37, a personal best.
- In the men's 50 freestyle, Matteo Masiero posted a personal-best time of 20.82 to qualify him for the Consolation Final, beating his previous personal best by .01 seconds.
- In the women's 1000 freestyle prelims, Hannah Pariseault posted a personal-best 10:20.28, an NCAA B-cut time and 14 seconds faster than her original best time. She finished sixth overall in the event.
- Bernardo Abascal also recorded an NCAA B-Cut and personal-best time in the 1000 free, finishing in 9:21.43. He finished fifth overall.
BEYOND THE MEDALS:
- In the prelims alone, the Sharks tallied 12 NCAA B-Standard times.
- Out of those who qualified for the Championship or Competition Finals, seven Sharks posted personal bests.
UP NEXT:
The four-day SSC Championship meet will continue tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 14. The preliminaries will begin at 10:00 a.m. and the finals are set to start at 6:00 p.m.
SHARKS ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
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