October 28, 2011
WRITTEN BY SHARON ROBB
Undefeated Florida State will take on Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Virginia Tech and Duke in Christiansburg, Va. on Saturday.
The Seminoles women’s team (5-0) is led by sophomore Tiffany Oliver of the South Florida Aquatic Club who has the top spot in the ACC in the 100-yard freestyle in 49.89.
Other SOFLO swimmers expected to compete for FSU are Melissa Cooper, Ashley Hicks, Doug Ramos and Alex Rodriguez.
The Seminoles men’s team is 3-0 and led by distance freestyler Mateo De Angulo of Colombia, fresh off the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The meet begins at noon. Twitter will have FSU swimming updates from the meet.
“This will be a great battle for us,” FSU coach Neil Harper said. “Not only will it give us great competition with ACC rivals, but it gives us a shot to swim a meet in the pool where the ACC Championships are being held.”
Virginia Tech hosts the ACC Championships in February.
FAU Hosts Florida Gulf Coast, Princeton
Florida Atlantic University will host Florida Gulf Coast’s women’s swimming and diving team along with Princeton on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the FAU Aquatic Center in Boca Raton.
FGCU is 2-1 in dual meets with wins over University of Miami and Florida International. It will be the Eagles first meet since the Oct. 9 All-Florida Invitational in Gainesville.
FGCU swimmers Dani Beaubrun of St. Lucia and Karen Vilorio of Honduras are coming off national record-breaking performances at the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. FGCU Neal Studd coached the St. Lucia national team. Studd also returns to FAU where he coached before taking the FGCU head coaching position.
FGCU is led by freshman Emma Svensson of Sweden.
Gators Men Tie, Women Lose To Georgia
In their first long course meters meet of the season, University of Florida tied Georgia in the men’s competition, 150-150, and lost to the Bulldogs women’s team, 158.5-141.5 Friday in a Southeastern Conference dual meet at the Stephen O’Connell Center in Gainesville.
The Gator men salvaged a tie when their 400-meter freestyle relay of Brad deBorde, James Turns, Matt Norton and Matthew Curby won the event by less than a second.
“The men stood up and raced well,” Gators coach Gregg Troy said. “We had our experienced guys out there and our younger guys as well. The freshmen were a little shocked by the level of competition we faced today, but they kept it together.”
Senior Teresa Crippen led the women’s team with three individual wins in the 200-meter butterfly (2:14.79), 200-meter backstroke (2:16.85) and 400-meter individual medley in 4:50.28. All three were Olympic trials cut times.
Overall, the Gators had 17 wins, 13 Olympic trials qualifying times and nine U.S. Winter National cut times.
UF senior Anthony Lewark of Davie swept the 1- and 3-meter springboard events.
The Gators return to the pool on Wednesday, Nov. 5 when they host Florida State.
SOFLO’s Phelan Competes For Indiana
University of Texas women’s swimming and diving team defeated Indiana and Michigan in a double dual meet Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Longhorns outscored Indiana, 165-133 and defeated Michigan, 189-109.
SOFLO’s Brittney Phelan, 19, of Indiana was 11th in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:23.77, 12th in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:06.59 and 17th in the 50-yard freestyle in 26.28
Pan American Games
The U.S. women’s water polo team earned an Olympic berth with a thrilling victory over Canada in the gold medal game at the XVI Pan American Games Friday in Guadalajara, Mexico. In a thrilling overtime game that went to a penalty shootout and eventually into sudden death. Canadian Joelle Bekhaze missed the 38th penalty shot after Margaret Steffens had converted one for Team USA. Brazil won the bronze medal with a 9-8 win over Cuba earlier on Friday…U.S. divers Troy Dumais and Kris Ipsen took a silver medal in the men’s 3-meter synchronized diving competition at the Pan Am Games. Mexico is dominating the gold medal podium.
NCAA Makes Landmark Decision
The NCAA, looking to curtail rampant accounts of under-the-table pay to student-athletes, increased the value of a full scholarship by $2,000 per semester or up to the full cost of attendance, whichever is less. In swimming, the award is only available to those who receive aid equivalent to a full scholarship. The effect on swimming will not be that significant. It will be more meaningful in women’s swimming, where full scholarships are more common than men’s, where partials are the norm.
Miscellaneous
Thomas University in Thomasville, Ga. will add a men’s and women’s swim team next fall. The school hired first time head coach Edward Von Hertsenberg from the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky…
Olympian Natalie Coughlin left on Friday for Genoa, Italy where she will compete on Tuesday…
The much-anticipated competitive return of five-time Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe, 28, of Sydney, Australia at the FINA World Cup Series stop in Singapore on Friday, Nov. 4, will be televised by Fox Sports at 9 p.m. on Fox Sports 2 and Fox Sports 2 HD. Thorpe is also entered in the World Cup events in Beijing (Nov. 8-9) and Tokyo (Nov. 12-13)…
Comedian Kevin Nealon of Saturday Night Live will emcee this year’s Golden Goggle Awards on November 20 in Los Angeles…
Former Pine Crest swimmer Diana Nyad is not giving up her Xtreme dream of swimming from Cuba to Florida. The 62-year-old was not successful in her first two attempts because of asthma, shoulder pain and jellyfish attacks, but said her hope is “still alive” that she will complete the 103-mile swim. “I can swim from Cuba to Florida and I will swim from Cuba to Florida,” she said during a recent TEDMED Conference in Coronado, Calif…
Randy Bennett, coach of Ryan Cochrane and Julia Wilkinson, has been named head coach of Canada’s swim team for the 2012 London Olympics. Swimming Canada made the announcement and called it “another positive momentum builder for our 2012 Olympic team.” The Canadian Olympic trials are March 27-April 1 in Montreal. SOFLO’s Caroline Kuczynski is an Olympic hopeful. “The depth in Canadian swimming has grown significantly and I’m really excited to witness some great performances at our trials in March,” Bennett said.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard…so this talent is working her butt off!!!”—Nike track star Sanya Richards, who grew up in Pembroke Pines near the Academic Village Pool.
Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com
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