By Sharon Robb
July 10, 2014—South Florida Aquatic Club took silver in a women’s relay and bronze in an individual event to finish second among the women’s field on opening night of the Speedo Champions Series Southern Zone South Sectional Championships at the Orlando YMCA.
The 200-meter medley relay team of Marcella Marinheiro, three-time Olympian Alia Atkinson, Maria Lopez and Olivia Katcher was second in 1:59.09, just behind T2 Aquatics relay of Elise Haan, Justine Bowker, Kayla Tennant and Abigail Garner in 1:58.57.
Melissa Marinheiro, 17, was third in the 1500-meter freestyle in 17:06.27. Jessica Thielmann, 20, of Gainesville Swim Club won the event in a best time 16:15.74, bettering her previous best of 16:19.92.
SOFLO teammate Kylie Herman, 16, posted a best time of 18:18.40 in the 1500, shaving 4.01 seconds off her previous best of 18:22.41. Amber Hunter posted best times on her relay splits of 29.99 in the butterfly and 27.85 in the freestyle.
South Florida Aquatic Club’s women’s team is second with 86 points behind Scarlet Aquatics of New Jersey with 119. St. Andrew’s Swimming is third with 84.
“Our distance kids did what they needed to do to be successful, our girls relay performed well and our “B” relays were awesome,” SOFLO head coach Chris Anderson said. “Kylie had a solid swim and Alfredo and Amber had some great relay splits.
“We are very happy with our overall team experiences,” Anderson said. “There are some really great clubs here and we are just going to keep working hard. I felt we were successful tonight.”
Ronald Santos, 18, was SOFLO’s top men’s finisher and only point-scorer swimming a lifetime-best 8:31.80 in the 800-meter freestyle with huge time drop of 13.21 seconds off his previous best long course time of 8:45.01.
Santos has been training with SOFLO for the past three months at the suggestion of his former Indian River State College teammate Marc Rojas.
“I was pretty much mentally ready before the race,” Santos said. “I have been training hard for three months and mentally I have been happy with my training. I was ready to go.
“I was expecting a best time but I never experienced this much of a drop in long course. I have been putting in a lot of effort in my training and it paid off. I started the race well and finished well. This definitely gives me confidence for the 200, 400 and mile.”
SOFLO teammate Alfredo Mesa posted a best 50-meter freestyle split time of 25.34 on the relay.
After Day One, Scarlet Aquatics of New Jersey leads the combined (182) and women’s (119) team totals. Blue Dolfins lead the men’s team totals with 102.
The only other individual winner was Arthur Frayler, 20, in the 800 freestyle in 8:12.70.
Florida Gold Coast teams won three of the four relays.
Westminster Academy swept the men’s 200-meter medley (Daniel Robbins, Gregory Penny, Anthony Barbar, Logan Lassley) and 200-meter freestyle relays (Daniel Robbins, Logan Lassley, Anthony Barbar, Andrew Halliburton).
St. Andrew’s Swimming won the women’s 200-meter freestyle relay in 1:47.37 with Mckenna Keith, Brenna Ruth, Darby Goodwin and Megan Moroney.
Weather played havoc with the Central Florida meet. A major thunderstorm affected power and the meet was put on hold for 60 minutes.
The four-day meet continues on Friday. Prelims are 9 a.m. and finals are 5 p.m. Friday’s events are 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter breaststroke, 100-meter butterfly, 400-meter individual medley and 800-meter freestyle relay.
Florida Swim Network will be unable to live-stream the meet because there is no hard-wire Internet at the YMCA venue.
THURSDAY TIMED FINALS RESULTS
COMBINED TEAM TOTALS: 1. Scarlet Aquatics 182, 2. St. Andrew’s Swimming 174, 3. T2 Aquatics 125, 4. Tampa Bay Aquatics 116, 5. Blue Dolfins 106, 6. Gator Swim Club 92, 7. South Florida Aquatic Club 91, 8. Westminster Academy 88, 9. Swim Florida 68, 10. Dominican Republic 60.
MEN’S TEAM TOTALS: 1. Blue Dolfins 102, 2. St. Andrew’s Swimming 90, 3. tie, Westminster Academy , Tampa Bay Aquatics 80, 5. Scarlet Aquatics 63, 20. SOFLO 5.
WOMEN’S TEAM TOTALS: 1. Scarlet Aquatics 119, 2. South Florida Aquatic Club 86, 3. St. Andrew’s Swimming 84, 4. T2 Aquatics 66, 5. Golden Panther Aquatics 58.
WOMEN
1500-meter freestyle:
1. Jessica Thielmann, GSC 16:15.74, 2. Ariel Finke, SPA 16:51.86, 3. Melissa Marinheiro, SOFLO 17:06.27; SOFLO: 18. Kylie Herman 18:18.40, best time, 24. Kelley Heron 18:39.15.
200-meter medley relay:
1.T2 Aquatics 1:58.57, 2. South Florida Aquatic Club 1:59.09 (Marcella Marinheiro, Alia Atkinson, Maria Lopez, Olivia Katcher), 3. Trinity Prep Aquatics 1:59.47; 14. SOFLO “B” 2:07.05 (Kelley Heron,Jessica Rodriguez, Amber Hunter, Kathleen Golding).
200-meter freestyle relay:
1.St. Andrew’s Swimming 1:47.37, 2. Scarlet Aquatics 1:48.64, 3. Golden Panther Aquatics 1:48.91; 7. South Florida Aquatic Club 1:50.03 (Kathleen Golding, Alia Atkinson, Maria Lopez, Olivia Katcher), 14. South Florida Aquatic Club “B” 1:53.58 (Melissa Marinheiro, Marcella Marinheiro, Kelley Heron, Amber Hunter).
MEN
800-meter freestyle:
1.Arthur Frayler, GAAC 8:12.70, 2. Ryan Rosenbaum, Swim Fort Lauderdale 8:16.64, 3. Eric Stobbe, Scarlet Knights 8:19.75; SOFLO: 12. Ronald Santos 8:31.80, best time.
200-meter medley relay:
1.Westminster Academy Swimming 1:43.77, 2. Blue Dolfins 1:44.83, 3. St. Andrew’s Swimming 1:45.62, 18. South Florida Aquatic Club “A” 1:53.54 (Juan Lucas, Marc Rojas, Matthew Gonzalez, Ryan Capote), 25. South Florida Aquatic Club “B” 1:56.28 (Gustavo Valery, Jordan Colon, Ronald Santos, Ervin Marin).
200-meter freestyle relay:
1.Westminster Academy 1:33.80, 2. St. Andrew’s Swimming 1:33.93, 3. Blue Dolfins 1:35.24, 19. South Florida Aquatic Club 1:42.22 (Ryan Capote, Marc Rojas, Ronald Santos, Matthew Gonzalez); 22. South Florida Aquatic Club 1:44.08 (Gustavo Valery, Juan Lucas, Alfredo Mesa, Jordan Colon).
Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com
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