Tampa Women Hold Lead With One Day Remaining at SSC Swimming Championship

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The Tampa women and Florida Southern men held their leads atop the standings with just one day of competition remaining at the 2013 Sunshine State Conference Swimming Championship, which is being contested at the Long Center in Clearwater, Fla.

Tampa leads the women's field with 634 points. Nova Southeastern is second with 596, while Florida Southern is third with 497. Saint Leo sits in fourth with 231 points. Rollins is fifth with 205. Lynn (173) and Florida Tech (160) round out the standings.

On the men's side, Florida Southern is first with 657 points. Nova Southeastern is second with 535 points. Tampa is third with 506, while Saint Leo is fourth with 327 points. Florida Tech (208) and Rollins (168) complete the standings.

Florida Southern kicked off Friday's finals with a pair of 200 medley relay victories. The FSC women clocked a time of 1:44.53, with Lauren Reynolds, Kelsey Gouge, Catie Carden, and Anna McIntyre taking the top spot on the medals podium. The Moccasin men notched a new meet record in winning with a mark of 1:29.50. Jeb Halfacre, Miguel Ferreira, Allan Gutierrez, and Zach Edwards combined for the gold.

Nova Southeastern's Lauren Chapple won the women's 400 individual medley in 4:19.97, establishing a new meet record. Saint Leo's Pawel Trenda took the men's 400 IM, clocking a time of 3:52.96 to set a new meet record and automatically qualify for the NCAA Division II Championship.

Rollins' Audrey Kula set a new meet record en route to a first-place finish in the 100 butterfly. Kula touched the wall in 55.39. Saint Leo's Matheus Assis took gold in the men's 100 butterfly, establishing a new meet record with his time of 48.73.

Nova Southeastern's Kristen Ann Zielinski punched a ticket to the NCAA DII meet with her meet-record time of 1:50.04 in the 200 freestyle. On the men's side, Florida Southern's Luis Rojas also met the NCAA automatic qualifier cut, posting a meet-record mark of 1:37.76 to take first place.

In the women's 100-yard breaststroke, Lynn won its first gold medal in school history, with Tyne Potgieter taking the top spot in a meet-record 1:03.33. The Fighting Knight women's team is competing in its first SSC Swimming Championship, having just started the swim program in Fall 2012.

The men's 100 breaststroke went to Florida Southern's Miguel Ferreira, who touched the wall in 54.76.

The Moccasins also swept the 100 backstroke. Lauren Reynolds won the women's race in 56.03. Jeb Halfacre tied his own meet record and met the NCAA automatic qualifier mark en route to winning with a time of 48.62.

Action will conclude at the Long Center on Saturday, with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and conference champions crowned in the finals at 5 p.m. A full schedule appears on the Swimming Championship Central page at sunshinestateconference.com.

A live web stream will once again be available on the SSC website courtesy of TampaSpartans.TV.