RESULTS

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern swimming and diving teams earned possibly their biggest wins of the season Saturday as both teams took down the Tampa Spartans at the NSU Aquatic Complex. The No. 9 men’s team took down the No. 11 Spartans, 140-65, while the No. 14 women’s team upset the No. 9 Spartans, 108.5-96.5.

The Sharks dedicated this meet between national contenders to teammate Joseph Geschke (Fr., New Port Richey, Fla.), who has had recent battles with his health. While Geschke is fighting his own battle, his teammates all had a heart with the name “Joey” drawn on their back shoulder blade. Despite the team’s tragic week, the Sharks forged forward in an emotional victory for all at the NSU Aquatic Complex.

The women’s 400-yard medley relay started off the day as the Sharks struck first. The women’s A team claimed the victory with a time of 4:01.39. The men followed up with their 400-medley relay in a race that was as tightly contested as any race during the meet. After the second leg, the time was split by a fourth of a second. Tampa’s A would pull ahead late in the race and claim the victory. NSU’s A team clocked in with a time of 3:32.7, good for second place.

The 1000-yard freestyle followed with the women’s race headlined by two swimmers, Erin Black (Jr., Fort Myers, Fla.) and Tampa’s Heather Glenday, who have already provisionally qualified for Nationals in the event. Black further displayed her dominance as she blew by the B-cut time by over six seconds, clocking in, and winning, with a time of 10:35.19.

The men were even more dominant as the Sharks had two swimmers break the NCAA B-cut time in first and second place. Jonas Grundstrom (sr., Fagersta, Sweden) won with a time of 9:37.04, while Oskar Nordstrand (Jr., Stockholm, Sweden) clocked in behind with a time of 9:43.41, breaking the B-cut time by two seconds.

In the 200-yard freestyle, Ashley Bransford (So., Santa Cruz, Aruba) claimed the win in the women’s race with a time of 1:56.15, just a half a second shy of a B-cut time. The men took their second loss of the day as Florian Mehlan  (So., Moers, Germany) claimed second place with a time of 1:44.4, less than a second off the lead.

The 50-yard freestyle for the women was an incredibly tight race as Tampa’s Erin Plachy pulled out the win by a third of a second. Linea Cutter (Fr., Coral Springs, Fla.) was the top finisher for the Sharks with a time of 24.98. On the men’s side, Esau Simpson (So., St. Davids, Grenada) reclaimed the momentum for the Sharks with a win and a time of 21.45. The time was less than a tenth of a second away from a B-cut time.

Ewa Jamborska (Sr., Katowice, Poland) earned a NCAA B-cut time in the women’s 200-yard IM, winning with a time of 2:11.44. The Sharks swept the 200-IM before the first break in action as the men’s team’s Oscar Aldabe (So., Alicante, Spain) won with a time of 1:59.87.

The 200-yard butterfly followed as the Spartans claimed a victory on the women’s side. Lauren Chapple (Fr., London, England) came up behind with a time of 2:10.55. On the men’s side, Grundsrom almost passed another B-cut time on the men’s side of the 200-butterfly. He claimed another victory with a time of 1:56.86, two tenths of a second off a provisional qualifying time.

The women’s 100-yard freestyle race was the closest of the day as Plachy and Cutter each finished with a time of 54.25. The race was called a tie as each swimmer collected 6.5 points for their teams. Armin Hornikel (Sr., Goose Creek, S.C.) just barely claimed a B-cut time in the 100-freestyle with a time of 46.95, provisionally qualifying for nationals by a tenth of a second.

Ashley Aranda (Sr., Kenner, La.) and Kelli Swanson (Fr., Palm Harbor, Fla.) went one and two, respectively, in the women’s 200-yard backstroke. Aranda clocked in at 2:10.71 while Swanson completed in 2:11.76. The men would claim a victory in the same race as Josh Davis won with a time of 1:54.43.

The women claimed their final victory of the day, which proved to be enough, in the 500-yard freestyle. Black recorded a B-cut qualifying time of 5:07.91 which put her in first by 10 seconds. NSU further proved its dominance in the distance races as Addison Cates (Fr., Port Charlotte, Fla.) won with a B-cut time of 4:41.92 in the men’s 500-freestyle.

In the final individual event of the day, Bransford claimed second place in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:25.36. The men’s team followed up in the same event with their biggest team performance of the day. Cameron Pfahler (Jr., Neptune Beach, Fla.) won the race with a time of 2:12.39 and was followed in second, third and fourth, respectively, by Jonathan Key (So., Biltmore Lakes, N.C.), Cameron Chambers (Jr., St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Aldabe.

In the final women’s event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Sharks’ A team claimed second place to seal their third victory of the year with a time of 3:38.53. The final race of the day, the men’s 400-freestyle relay, was won by the Sharks’ A team with a time of 3:09.07, less than a second ahead of Tampa’s A team.

The Sharks will return to action in the NSU Shark Invitational at the NSU Aquatic Center, beginning on Dec. 16.

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