Spofforth Picks Up Second Individual SEC Record in Saturday Prelims
Saturday, February 21, 2009 | Women's Swimming & Diving
After claiming the 100-yard backstroke title in SEC and UF record fashion on Friday, junior Gemma Spofforth (West Sussex, England) led the way for Florida in prelims on the final day of the 2009 SEC Championship meet. Spofforth clocked a new SEC, pool and UF record with an automatic qualifying time of 1:49.82 in the 200-yard backstroke.
Gator Jemma Lowe (Hartlepool, United Kingdom) clocked Florida's second first-place prelims finish after leading the field in the 200-yard fly. Lowe touched in at 1:55.16 to achieve the top seed heading into finals.
In both the 200-yard back and 200-yard fly event, the Gators return three championship finalists. Joining Spofforth in the backstroke will be sophomore Julianne Lago (Miami, Fla.) and freshman Teresa Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.), who earned the third and fourth-place seeds, respectively. In the fly, Crippen earned the second-place slot, while junior Stephanie Proud (Durham, England) clocked in at 1:52.65 for fourth-place. All three backstroke Gators surpassed the 1:53.37 to automatically qualify for the 2009 NCAA championships in the event.
Two other freshmen, Kirsten Smith (Cary, N.C.) and Shara Stafford (Topeka, Kan.) will represent the Gators in the championship heats of the 200-yard breast and 100-yard free, respectively. Juniors Liz Kemp (Potomac, Md.) and Stephanie Napier (Chattanooga, Tenn.) earned the 10th and 12th-place seeds in the consolation finals of the 100-yard free.
In men's Saturday preliminary action, senior Rex Tullius (Port Orange, fla.) and junior Omar Pinzon (Bogota, Colombia) earned the third and fifth-place seeds for finals of the 200-yard back, while Roland Rudolf (Budapest, Hungary) and sophomore Brett Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) garnered ninth and 12th-place consolation status.
Junior Roberto Gomez (Weston, Fla.) will be Florida's lone representation in the men's 100-yard free heading into Saturday finals after swimming a career-best 43.22 for the sixth-place seed.
The Gator men stacked the 200-yard fly finals with third, fourth and seventh place finishes from junior Shaune Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands), sophomore Balazs Gercsak (Budapest, Hungary) and freshman Jeff Raymond (Davie, Fla.), while junior Clark Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) and freshman Robby Kennedy (Ft. Myers, Fla.) garnered second and seventh-place preliminary finishes in the men's 200-yard breast.
In the men's platform diving preliminaries, freshmen Colin Bell (Coral Springs, Fla.) and Anthony Lewark (Davie, Fla.) represented Florida, Bell diving to an 11th-place finish with a score of 290.60 and Lewark checking in at 271.90, good for 13th place in prelims. Although it was just the second time the Gators have competed on platform this season, both Bell and Lewark established career-bests in the event.
Saturday Finals
4:00pm (approximately)
Swimming 1650yd Freestyle (all but final heat) (M/W)
6:00pm
Swimming Finals (M/W)
1650yd Freestyle Final Heats
200yd Backstroke
100yd Freestyle
200yd Breaststroke
200yd Butterfly
Men's Platform Diving Finals
400yd Freestyle Relay
Florida Saturday Prelims Results
Men's 200-yard backstroke
Swimmer Time Place Notes
Rex Tullius 1:42.34 3rd NCAA B standard, finals qualifier
Omar Pinzon 1:42.91 5th NCAA B standard, finals qualifier
Roland Rudolf 1:44.53 9th NCAA B standard, consolation qualifier
Brett Fraser 1:45.09 12th NCAA B standard, consolation qualifier
Brian Howell 1:47.23 18th Second alternate
Women's 200-yard backstroke
Swimmer Time Place Notes
Gemma Spofforth 1:49.82 1st SEC record, UF record, pool record, NCAA automatic
qualifying mark, career-best, second-fastest all-time
Teresa Crippen 1:52.40 2nd NCAA automatic qualifying mark, finals qualifier
Stephanie Proud 1:52.65 4th NCAA automatic qualifying mark, finals qualifier
Anna Pold 1:56.43 12th NCAA B standard, consolation qualifier
Sarah Peterson 2:00.61 exh
Men's 100-yard free
Swimmer Time Place Notes
Roberto Gomez 43.22 6th NCAA B standard, finals qualifier
Raul Martinez 44.66 21st
Women's 100-yard free
Swimmer Time Place Notes
Shara Stafford 48.76 5th NCAA B standard, finals qualifier
Liz Kemp 49.17 10th NCAA B standard, consolation qualifier
Stephanie Napier 49.28 12th NCAA B standard, consolation qualifier
Sarah Bateman 50.00 23rd
Lily Ramirez 50.18 exh
Men's 200-yard breast
Swimmer Time Place Notes
Clark Burckle 1:55.89 2nd NCAA B cut, finals qualifier
Robby Kennedy 1:59.71 7th
Mike Joyce 1:59.97 exh
Bradley Ally DQ
Women's 200-yard breast
Swimmer Time Place Notes
Kirsten Smith 2:13.08 5th NCAA B standard, finals qualifier
Lindsay Rogers 2:18.91 18th Second alternate
Men's 200-yard fly
Swimmer Time Place Notes
Shaune Fraser 1:43.55 3rd NCAA B cut, finals qualifier
Balazs Gercsak 1:43.67 4th NCAA B cut, finals qualifier
Jeff Raymond 1:45.38 7th NCAA B cut, finals qualifier
Women's 200-yard fly
Swimmer Time Place Notes
Jemma Lowe 1:55.16 1st NCAA B cut, finals qualifier
Julianne Lago 1:56.41 3rd NCAA B cut, finals qualifier
Teresa Crippen 1:56.65 4th NCAA B cut, finals qualifier
Anna Pold 2:01.10 17th First alternate
-UF-
