Florida Southern swimming split a pair of dual meets against Tampa, delivering head coach Mike Blum a debut win.
Florida Southern Press Release:
With senior Raul Garrastazu winning all three of his individual races, and fellow senior Jesus Marin winning twice, Florida Southern defeated Tampa 143-119 to open the season Friday, and gave Mike Blum a win in his first meet as the Moccasins’ head coach.
After Tampa had started the meet with a win in the 200-medley relay, Garrastazu gave Florida Southern a win in the first individual race of the day. His time of 9:52.43 was a little over two seconds faster than Tampa’s Alberto Orejuela in the 1,000-freestyle, though the Spartans did take second, third, fourth and fifth in the race.
Garrastazu also won the 200-butterfly by edging out teammate Antonio Nunez-Alvarez by 0.96 seconds, and finished his sweep in the 500-freestyle, this time finishing 3.54 seconds ahead of Marin. That capped a run of four straight wins by the Moccasins, which included Marin in the 100-freestyle, junior Marco Palacios in the 200-backstroke, and sophomore Luis Jasso in the 200-breaststroke.
In addition to winning the 100-freestyle and finished second in the 500, Marin also captured the 200-freestyle. It was the eighth time in the last two seasons Marin has won that race.
It wasn’t just the seniors or returning All-Americans who were in the win column either. Freshman Sean Kim was victorious in his college debut in a photo finish for the 100-breaststroke. His time of 57.70 was only two one-hundredths of a second ahead of Jasso. The 200-breaststroke was almost as close between the two Moccasin swimmers, though Jasso was first and Kim second by 1.37 seconds.
Freshman Matthew Holmes was third in the 200-breaststroke, giving Florida Southern the maximum 16 points in that event, then turned around and won the 200-IM, which was the final individual race of the meet. The Mocs also got a second-place finish in that race from Nunez-Alvarez, with the two separated by 0.82 seconds.
Tampa won three individual races and both relay events, with Khalid Aldaboos playing a role in four of those first-place finishes. He won the 50-freestyle and 100-butterfly, and also helped the Spartans win the 200-medley and 400-freestyle relays.
Florida Southern’s next meet will be next Friday, October 23 at Florida Tech. Scheduled start time is 3 p.m.
Tampa Press Release:
The University of Tampa and Florida Southern College met Friday afternoon to kick off the 2015-2016 season.
The Spartans men’s team fell to the Mocs by a final score of 143-119. On the women’s side, the two teams finished in a 131 tie.
The men’s team started the season off on a positive note in the 200 Yard Relay Medley, as the team of Jordan Augier, Wayne Denswil, Khalid Aldaboos and Runar Borgen finished just ahead of the team from Florida Southern.
Augier also picked up a win in the 100 Yard Backstroke, as he finished just .10 second ahead of Marco Palacios of FSC.
In the men’s 50 Yard Freestyle, Tampa swept the top three spots as Aldaboos finished in first, followed by Jeremy Parker and Martin Hammer.
Aldaboos and Runar Borgen finished first and third in the men’s 100 Yard Backstroke.
In the final race of the day, the Spartans finished first and third in the 400 Yard Freestyle Medley. The team of Parker, Aldaboos, Augier, and Borgen won with a time of 3:02.80, nearly seven seconds faster than the second-best time. Willy
Malone, Christian Berg, Forrest Lundy and Alberto Orejuela finished in third.
On the women’s side, Makayla Ayers picked up the first victory of the season for UT, as she won the 1000 Yard Freestyle.
In the 200 Yard Freestyle, the Spartans earned a sweep as Izzy Spalding, Victoria Horsman and Jesse North each claimed the top three spots.
Marisa Barton won the 50 Yard Freestyle and then followed that with a victory in the 100 Yard Freestyle.
In the 500 Yard Freestyle, Britt Bayes and Ayers finished in first and third respectively.
The Spartans then went on to take the top two spots in the 400 Yard Freestyle Medley. Barton, Page Fox, Amanda Nielson-Fernandes and Courtney Markle finished in first place. The team of Spalding, Britt Bayes, Katie Bayes and Noel Styer finished in second.
Both teams will be in action again on November 21 when they travel to Nova Southeastern.
