No. 4 Florida Concludes Friday Competition in Atlanta, Ga., and Columbia, S.C.
Saturday, November 21, 2009 | Men's Swimming & Diving
With competition at two invitational meets under way for the No. 4 Florida men and No. 5 UF women, several swims highlighted the first day of competition at the Georgia Tech Invitational and the second day of swimming at the Gamecock Invitational on the South Carolina campus.
Both Gator squads sit in second behind FSU at the Georgia Tech Invite, the women with 263 points to FSU's 337, and the men with 240 points to the Seminoles' 301.5. Both the Florida men's and women's 200-yard free and 400-yard medley relays finished finals in second to the teams from Florida State in Atlanta on the Georgia Tech campus, but outstanding individual swims came from UF sophomores Melani Costa-Schmid (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) and Teresa Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.), who placed first and second in the 500-yard free. Freshman Corinne Showalter (Sarasota, Fla.) finished fourth and senior Kristen Beales (Arlington, Va.) took sixth, all four Gators earning NCAA consideration marks.
Other highlights on the women's side in Atlanta included a win and NCAA provisional mark by sophomore Shara Stafford (Topeka, Kan.) in the 200-yard IM (2:01.50), as well as a victory from sophomore counterpart Sarah Bateman (Orlando, Fla.) in the 50 free (22.93), also an NCAA “B” cut.
In men's action, junior Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill.) took the 500 free in an NCAA provisional time of 4:34.32, while senior Shaune Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) claimed the 200 IM title with an NCAA consideration standard (1:47.45). Junior Brett Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) was UF's highest finisher in the 50 free, taking fourth in 20.56.
On the diving boards, senior Kara Salamone (Cooper City, Fla.), who took first in prelims, finished second in the one-meter competition (297.45) and junior Monica Dodson (Franklin, Ind.) placed fifth (286.00) after a second-place prelims performance. In men's diving, sophomore Anthony Lewark (Davie, Fla.) took third on the three-meter board (365.55), while sophomore Colin Bell (Coral Springs, Fla.) placed seventh (306.65).
Florida will continue day two of competition from the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center Saturday against the teams from Clemson, FAU, FIU, FSU, Gardner-Webb, NC State and Georgia Tech. Fans can follow live here.
Meanwhile, the contingent of Gators in South Carolina have rallied for a fourth-place standing (288) on the men's side and a sixth-place standing (129) on the women's side following the second day of competition in Columbia.
Day two was highlighted by second and third-place finishes in the 400-yard IM from sophomore Brian Howell (Cincinnati, Ohio) and junior Bobby Walsh (Virginia Beach, Va.) on the men's side, while freshman Kaitlin Taylor (Orlando, Fla.) led the way in the event for the women with a fifth-place finish (4:28.80).
Sophomore Maida Turnadzic (Cape Coral, Fla.) represented UF in finals of the 100-yard fly (56.66) with a sixth-place finish and junior Mike Yuan (Winter Springs, Fla.) (51.27) took eighth in the men's event.
The Gators will wrap up the final day at the 2009 Gamecock Invitational against North Carolina, Duke, East Carolina, Old Dominion, James Madison, South Carolina, Georgia Southern and the College of Charleston Saturday. Gator fans can follow live results here.
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