By Sharon Robb
OCALA, May 21, 2024—South Florida Aquatic Club will be well-represented by several top swimmers at the Speedo Southern Zone South Sectional Championships which begin Thursday at Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training Center.
The four-day long course meters meet has a loaded field of age group, college and post-grad swimmers leading up to the June 15-23 U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis. For many it will serve as a final tuneup 23 days out from Trials.
Other sectionals are being held in July in Austin, Tex., Westmont, Ill. and Mt. Hood, Ore.
SOFLO is led by four members of its pro team. SOFLO Olympic hopeful Lismar Lyon of Venezuela is top seed in the 50-meter freestyle in 25.19 and seeded second in the 100-meter butterfly in 1:00.23. She is also swimming the 100 freestyle.
Lyon will be joined by pro teammates 2020 Tokyo Olympian Julio Horrego of Honduras (50 freestyle, 100 and 200 breaststrokes), Eric Veit of Venezuela (50 and 100 freestyles and 100 and 200 breaststrokes) and Luciano Gonzalez of Cuba (100 butterfly).
Eleven other SOFLO swimmers will be competing in multi-events in addition to eight relays. They are:
Juan Vallmitjana, 200 breaststroke, 400 freestyle, 800 freestyle, 200 individual medley.
Laila Harran, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke.
Lydia Smutny, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 200 individual medley.
Manny Melendez, 50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke, 100 freestyle.
Nicolai Ross, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley.
Stephen Kim, 200 breaststroke, 50 freestyle, 200 individual medley.
Aldo Zepeda, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke.
Ana Villamil, 50 freestyle, 100 freeestyle, 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke, 200 individual medley.
Austin Nelson, 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke, 400 individual medley.
Carley Kaplan, 50 freestyle, 400 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke.
Gabriella DeLuna, 100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 400 individual medley.
SOFLO coaches Chris Anderson, Issy Planell and Jessica Rodriguez will be on deck coaching. Felix Gonzalez is head referee.
The only other Florida Gold Coast swimmer seeded first in an event is University of Florida freshman and Pine Crest alum Julia Podkoscielny, 19, in the 200-meter backstroke (2:13.86).
Among other elite swimmers entered are Addison Sauickie and Gracie Weyant of Sarasota Sharks, UF alum Kieran Smith of Ridgefield Aquatics, Maxwell McHugh of University of Minnesota, Caroline Pennington of Florida, Aleksas Savickas of Florida and Rylee Erisman of Laker Swimming.
The 800 meter freestyle, 1500 meter freestyle and all relays will be timed final events. All other events will be conducted as preliminaries at 9 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m. with the top 40 swimmers from preliminaries advancing to finals. The D final will be reserved for 18&U athletes.
The meet homepage for heat sheets, results and other information: https://www.gomotionapp.com/team/fastfalcons/page/hosted-meets–events/sz-sectionals-may-2024
Order of Events
DAY ONE
200 Meter Freestyle
100 Meter Breaststroke
200 Meter Butterfly
800 Meter Freestyle
1500 Meter Freestyle
DAY TWO
100 Meter Freestyle
400 IM
100 Meter Backstroke
800 Meter Freestyle Relay
DAY THREE
400 Meter Freestyle
100 Meter Butterfly
200 Meter Breaststroke
400 Meter Freestyle Relay
DAY FOUR
200 IM
50 Meter Freestyle
200 Meter Backstroke
1500 Meter Freestyle
800 Meter Freestyle
400 Meter Medley Relay
Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com
http://www.swim4soflo.com
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