Raymond Finishes 19th Overall in 100-Meter Free at U.S. Open
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Florida sophomores Shara Stafford (Topeka, Kan.) and Jeff Raymond (Davie, Fla.) both had finals-qualifying swims in the 100-meter freestyle Wednesday on the second day of competition at the 2009 U.S. Open in Federal Way, Wash., Stafford finishing fourth overall and Raymond finishing 19th.
Stafford touched in at 55.46 in prelims of the 100-meter free, finishing as the fourth seed, and turned around in the A final to swim a 55.45, good for fourth overall in the event. Gator teammate Melani Costa-Schmid (Palma de Mallona, Spain) clocked a 57.39 in preliminaries to place 34th overall in the field of 71 athletes.
In the men's 100-meter free, after Raymond swam a 50.85 (20th) in prelims, he returned to swim a slightly quicker 50.82 in timed finals, improving to 19th overall.
Both Stafford and Costa-Schmid doubled up on day two of the 2009 U.S. Open, also competing in the 200-meter backstroke. The duo finished 18th (2:15.30) and 58th (2:20.19), respectively, Stafford earning a second swim in the evening session as a C finalist. Gator Julia Nagy (Viera, Fla.) finished just ahead of Costa-Schmid in the 200 back, swimming a 2:19.89, 54th-place finish.
Florida swimming fans can follow the 2009 U.S. Open results on Omega Timing here. A recap and results from Florida athletes can be found on www.GatorZone.com and www.swimnetwork.com. Preliminaries will take place at noon (ET) each day of competition, while finals commence at 9 p.m. (ET).
-UF-
