The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed against two higher-division opponents this weekend, with the men’s squad falling to both Division II Florida Southern College (Fla.) and Division I Florida State University (Fla.), and the women defeating Florida Southern before losing to Florida State.
Both the men’s and women’s squads came into the meet ranked first in the CollegeSwimming.com Division III rankings. The Florida State men were ranked 15th in Division I, while the women were slated 18th.
The Florida Southern men were ranked fourth in Division II, with the women being ranked sixth.
“It was a good meet for us,” Head Coach Jon Howell said. “We swam against good competition.”
Though they lost to Florida Southern 174.5-87.5 and to Florida State 222-70, the men still posted a number of strong performances.
“The men were strong this weekend overall,” Howell said. “Our continuing focus is to get better. Southern was a little faster than we expected them to be, but our guys raced hard and made progress this weekend.”
Senior captain Miller Douglas and sophomore Hayden Baker both posted provisional qualifying ‘B’ times in the 200-yard butterfly. Douglas finished third with a time of 1:51.61, while Baker ended the race in sixth, posting a time of 1:53.44. In the 200, senior Justin Beegle finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke, posting a ‘B’ time of 2:06.55.
The men posted one last provisional qualifying time in the 400-yard medley relay.
The team of junior Ross Spock, Beegle, Douglas and junior Jake Stephens finished with a time of 3:25.65, which earned them fourth place.
“Spock and Douglas swam really well this weekend,” Howell said. “Those two stood out as having exceptional meets.”
On the women’s side, the Eagles defeated Florida Southern by a score of 189-99 and lost to Florida State 185-102.
“It was a really interesting weekend for us because the meet was outdoors and so far away” senior co-captain Anna Dobben said. “It was really good to see everyone adapt and have a great experience.”
The Eagles’ two top relay teams each finished third in their respective events, posting provisional qualifying times along the way.
“We overcame a lot of difficulties,” Dobben said. “It was really fun to compete in the relays because we matched them swimmer for swimmer.”
In the 400-yard medley, junior Sadie Nennig, junior Kylie McKenzie, senior Leslie Hackler and Dobben finished in 3:54.65. In the 400-yard freestyle, sophomore Nancy Larson, senior Renee Rosenkranz, Dobben and senior Ann Wolber completed the race in 3:31.85.
“This proves that we have a little ways to go, but we are on the right track,” Dobben said. “We need to keep training hard and stay focused on school and swimming.”
With the results of these meets, the women’s record now stands at 2-1 on the year, while the men are at 0-3.
The diving team next returns to action Saturday, Nov. 10 when they will compete at the University of the South (Tenn.), and the swimmers will next take to the pool against the University of Georgia (UGA) on Friday, Nov. 16.
“It will be a fun meet for us,” Howell said. “We will focus on training and expect some even better swims in two weeks.
– By Bennett Ostdiek
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