NSU Swimming Earns Six-Straight Golds on Day Three of SSC Championships

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men and women’s swim teams put on a show on Saturday night, grabbing the first six gold medals of the third night of the 2020 SSC Championships. Emma Sundstedt brought home her third-straight 500 freestyle crown while Vincent Lijoi defended his men’s 500 freestyle crown. After three days of competition, the NSU women continue to lead the pack with a total of 726.5 points, with Tampa following in second with 659.5. On the men’s side, the Spartans hold onto their lead with 706 points and the Sharks sit in second with 628 points.
 
INSIDE THE MEET:
WOMEN’S TOTAL SCORES: No. 6 Nova Southeastern Sharks (726.5 points, 1st Place)
MEN’S TOTAL SCORES: No. 6 Nova Southeastern Sharks (628 points, 2nd Place)
LOCATION: The Long Center | Clearwater, Fla.
FOLLOW US: @NSU_SWIM on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
 
TOP PERFORMERS:
 

  • Emma Sundstedt earned her third-consecutive gold medal in the women’s 500 freestyle with a time of 4:51.50.
  • Vincent Lijoi also repeated as SSC Champion in the men’s 500 free with his personal-best time of 4:25.64.
  • Cassandra Wright earned the gold in the women’s 100 back, posting a winning time of 53.49, which also serves as an NCAA A-Cut. Jenna Johns took home the silver with a time of 54.68.
  • Aleksei Averchenko took the gold in the men’s 100 backstroke with his winning time of 48.24.
  • Caily Friel set a new personal record in the women’s 100 breast, winning the gold in 1:01.48.
  • Freshman Robert Spekis shocked the crowd as her became the sixth-straight Shark to win a gold medal on Saturday night, posting a winning time of 54.13.
  • Sasha Maslova brought home the silver in the women’s 200 butterfly, finishing with a time of 2:00.30.
  • Both the women’s (Laurel Fink, Maslova, Solana Capalbo, Sundstedt) and the men’s (Alec Dawson, Lijoi, Samuel Brettmann, Magnus Poulsen) 800 freestyle relays finished second with times of 7:30.71 and 6:33.18, respectively.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 

  • The women’s 500 freestyle prelims saw two Sharks post personal bests to advance to the finals, as Hannah Pariseault notched a time of 5:03.37 and Maeve Hunt with a 5:04.23, both NCAA B-Cuts. On the men’s side, Caleb Fell also recorded a personal-best 4:36.15.
  • Four Sharks advanced to the championship finals of the women’s 100 back, as Abigail Schwartz and Solana Capalbo each posted personal bests, 56.44 and 56.88, respectively. On the men’s side, Evan Weber went 52.28 to advance to the consolation finals, also a personal-best.
  • Caliy Friel took almost two seconds off her best time in the 100 breast prelims, handing her the top seed heading into the championship finals. Leah Orton also notched a personal-best 1:04.79 to advance to the consolation finals.
  • Brettmann and Robert Spekis delivered the 1-2 punch in the men’s 100 breaststroke, finishing in 54.48 and 54.49, repspectively, both personal-best times and NCAA B-Cuts. Alessandro Xella added some drama to the event, having to swim in a swim off against FIT’s Jose Coiman-Acosta, and winning to take the eighth seed in the championship final.
  • Out of the three Sharks who advanced in the women’s 200 fly, Hunt registered a personal-best 2:08.00. Three male Sharks also qualified for the 200 fly championship finals, with Spencer Hohm finishing in a personal-best 1:49.73.

 
BEYOND THE MEDALS:
 

  • In the prelims alone, the Sharks tallied 15 NCAA B-Standard times.
  • Out of those who qualified for the Championship or Competition Finals, 12 Sharks posted personal bests during preliminaries.
  • During the finals, 10 Sharks posted personal bests.

 
UP NEXT:
 
The four-day SSC Championship meet will come to an end tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 16. The preliminaries will once again begin at 10:00 a.m., but the finals will start at 5:00 p.m. as the Senior Ceremony will be held before competition.
 
SHARKS ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
 
Follow along with live updates on Twitter by following @NSU_Swim.
 

Print Friendly Version

Source