SOFLO Leads Combined After Day One Of FGC Senior Championships

By Sharon Robb
CORAL SPRINGS, July 30, 2021—Defending champion South Florida Aquatic Club took the early lead after opening day of the Florida Gold Coast Senior Championships Friday at Coral Springs Aquatic Complex.

In what promises to be a close competition, SOFLO leads the combined team standings with 648 points followed by St. Andrew’s Aquatics with 567 and Jupiter Dragons with 483 points.

St. Andrew’s Aquatics leads the men’s competition with 428 followed by SOFLO with 388 and Swim Fort Lauderdale with 342 points.

Jupiter Dragons leads the girls field with 314 points followed by Gulliver with 302. SOFLO is fourth with 260.

After a challenging 16 months of COVID-19 protocols, empty pools and restrictions, parity has returned to Florida Gold Coast swimming.

Four different girls teams and four different boys teams won senior titles on the first of three days of competition.

Pine Crest had two individual champions with Paige Maceachern in the 200-meter butterfly in 2:19.47 and Riley Botting in the 400-meter freestyle in 4:29.40.

St. Andrew’s dominated the boys competition with individual champion Reese Branzell in the 100-meter freestyle in 50.92. St. Andrew’s swept the 200-meter freestyle and 200-meter medley relays.

SOFLO’s Top 10 finishers were:

Sebastian Lares, 200-meter backstroke, fifth 2:12.82, time drop 6.37.

Alex Golding, 200-meter backstroke, sixth 2:13.09, time drop 1.44.

Gaby Banks, 100-meter freestyle, sixth 1:00.31.

Michelle Marinheiro, 200-meter butterfly, seventh 2:31.76, time drop 4:57.22.

Nat Gembicki, 400-meter freestyle, seventh 4:38.37, time drop 13.18.

Javier Roman, 200-meter butterfly, seventh 2:11.95, time drop 1.77.

Ivan Grass, 400-meter freestyle, seventh 4:18.37.

Rafael Rodriguez, 100-meter freestyle, ninth 53.68, time drop 3.19.

Enrique Rodriguez, 200-meter butterfly, tenth 2:11.99, time drop 0.57.

SOFLO’s women’s relays finished fourth in the 200-meter medley relay and fifth in the 200-meter freestyle relay. The men’s relays finished fourth in the 200 medley and fifth in the 200 freestyle.

In March, SOFLO won its seventh title in at its home pool. SOFLO swept the combined (2,007 points), women (1,013.50) and men (993.50) team titles.

The meet continues on Saturday. Prelims are 8:30 a.m. and finals 5 p.m. each day. On Sunday, the men’s and women’s 1500 freestyle distance finals are 11:25 a.m. with the remaining finals at 5 p.m.

For the three-day long course meet in the Michael Lohberg Pool of Champions, 41 SOFLO swimmers, ages 15-and-over, (26 men and 15 women) have qualified for 174 individual and eight relay events.

Everyone is encouraged to wear face coverings or face masks while at the facility. Hand sanitation stations are available throughout the facility.

FRIDAY RESULTS
COMBINED TEAM TOTALS: 1. South Florida Aquatic Club 648.5, 2. St. Andrew’s Aquatics 567, 3. Jupiter Dragons 483, 4. Pine Crest 437, 5. Gulliver 373, 6. Swim Fort Lauderdale 370, 7. Midtown Weston 349, 8. TS Aquatics 283, 9. Coral Springs Swim Club 245, 10. Metro Aquatics 228.

MEN TEAM TOTALS: 1. St. Andrew’s Aquatics 428, 2. SOFLO 388, 3. Swim Fort Lauderdale 342, 4. Jupiter Dragons 169, 5. Metro Aquatics 166, 6. Eagle Aquatics 162, 7. TS Aquatics 144, 8. Pine Crest Swimming 142, 9. Pompano Beach Piranhas 106, 10. Coral Springs Swim Club 99.

WOMEN TEAM TOTALS: 1. Jupiter Dragons 314, 2. Gulliver 302, 3. Pine Crest Swimming 295, 4. SOFLO 260.5, 5. Midtown Weston 255, 6. Coral Springs Swim Club 146, 7. tie, TS Aquatics, St. Andrew’s 139, 9. Golden Panther Aquatics 127, 10. Sunrise Swimming 110.

WOMEN
200-meter backstroke: 1. Solana Capalbo, AZFL 2:23.86, 2. Riley Macvane, NPB 2:27.41, 3. Sophia Perez, GRSC 2:27.83; SOFLO: 12. Sally Golding 2:33.07, 20. Sara Quintero 2:34.70, 21. Mariann Catalasan 2:35.09, time drop 3.64.

100-meter freestyle: 1. Heidi Smithwick, JUP 57.41, 2. Eriana Temperino, GPA 58.49, 3. Nicole Aguilar, WOW 59.24; SOFLO: 6. Gaby Banks 1:00.31, 26. Nat Gembicki 1:00.91, time drop 0.13.

200-meter butterfly: 1. Paige Maceachern, PC 2:19.47, 2. Julian Atkinson, MTSC 2:19.80, 3. Heidi Smithwick, JUP 2:21.27; SOFLO: 7. Michelle Marinheiro 2:31.76, time drop 4.57, 22. Jennamarie Brames 2:40.34.

400-meter freestyle: 1. Riley Botting, PC 4:29.40, 2. Faith Mutschler, WOW 4:33.10, 3. Helvina Huet, GPA 4:33.56; SOFLO: 7. Nat Gembicki 4:38.37, time drop 13.18, 12. Michelle Marinheiro 4:42.78, time drop 1.08, 13. Mariangela Cincotti 4:43.20, 18. Jennamarie Brames 4:46.00, time drop 5.81.

200-meter freestyle relay: 1. Jupiter 1:47.16, 2. Pine Crest 1:51.09, 3. Midtown Weston 1:51.15, 5. SOFLO 1:53.47 (Nat Gembicki, Mariangela Cincotti, Sally Golding, Gaby Banks), 21. SOFLO B 2:05.49 (Jennamarie Brames, Sabrina Osorio, Sofia Osorio, Jena Legaspi).

200-meter medley relay: 1. Midtown Weston 2:01.78, 2. Jupiter 2:01.98, 3. Pine Crest 2:02.84, 4. SOFLO A 2:06.41 (Jena Legaspi, Michelle Fernandez, Michelle Marinheiro, Gaby Banks), 17. SOFLO B 2:13.93 (Jennamarie Brames, Sabrina Osorio, Mariangela Cincotti, Nat Gembicki).

MEN
200-meter backstroke: 1. Joshua Zuchowski, FAST 2:01.62, 2. Lance Lesage, PC 2:11.35, 3. Jack Faulkner, SFTL 2:11.87; SOFLO: 5. Sebastian Lares 2:12.82, time drop 6.37, 6. Alex Golding 2:13.09, time drop 1.44.

100-meter freestyle: 1. Reese Branzell, SAS 50.92, 2. Kaii Winkler, EA 51.51, 3. Jorge Depassier, AZFL 51.94; SOFLO: 9. Rafael Rodriguez 53.68, time drop 3.19

200-meter butterfly: 1. Gabriel Araya, AZFL 2:03.6, 2. Dario Martin, OSC 2:04.49, 3. Caleb Petranchuk, JUP 2:07.98; SOFLO: 7. Javier Roman 2:11.95, time drop 1.77, 10. Enrique Rodriguez 2:11.99, time drop 0.57, 15. Alejandro Mateus 2:17.61, 17. Adrian Hernandez 2:15.15, 23. Brennan Binder 2:17.89, time drop 3.80, 24. Christian Tijero 2:20.04, time drop 6.03.

400-meter freestyle:1. Dylan Felt, SFTL 4:04.02, 2. Kaii Winkler, EA 4:07.40, 3. Dylan Brisco, SAS 4:07.54; SOFLO: 7. Ivan Grass 4:18.37, 15. Christian Tijero 4:26.12, time drop 12.81, 22. Nathaniel Garrick 4:28.08, time drop 6.95, 30. Zachary Harris 4:34.64.

200-meter freestyle relay: 1. St. Andrew’s Aquatics A 1:32.48, 2. Eagle Aquatics 1:37.54, 3. St. Andrew’s B 1:38.55, 5. SOFLO A 1:40.31 (Alex Golding, Brennan Binder, Sebastian Lares, Rafael Rodriguez), 12. SOFLO B 1:42.55 (Philo Ibrahim, Zackary Harris, Adrian Hernandez, Aldo Zepeda).

200-meter medley relay: 1. St. Andrew’s Aquatics A 1:44.47, 2. St. Andrew’s Aquatics B 1:47.51, 3. Pine Crest 1:50.96, 4. SOFLO A 1:51.33 (Sebastian Lares, Javier Roman, Rafael Rodriguez, Alex Golding), 12. SOFLO B 1:55.10 (Alejandro Mateus, Manuel Melendez, Enrique Rodriguez, Brennan Binder).

Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com
http://www.swim4soflo.com