Florida finishes first at Ohio State Invite

With four wins on the final day of competition, the University of Florida’s swimming and diving teams concluded a successful meet at the Ohio State Invitational. The Gator women, who swam four NCAA “A” cut times on the final day, finished first with 837 points. UF’s men earned two NCAA “A” cuts on their way to a second place finish with 997.5 points.

The first event of the day was the 1,650 free. Freshman Jessica Thielmann (Newcastle, England) and junior Alicia Mathieu (Marlborough, Conn.) finished second and third in the mile, both swam under 16 minutes to earn NCAA “A” cut times. Thielmann was second with a career-best of 15:52.34 and Mathieu took third, also earning a personal-best touching in 15:59.32.

Sophomore Molly Dubrasky (Estero, Fla.), sophomore Jordan Smith (Longwood, Fla.) and sophomore Lauren Neidigh (Orange Park, Fla.) all scored for the Gators as well.

Florida’s freshman Arthur Frayler (Fort Washington, Pa.) grabbed the win on the men’s side, along with the meet record with his time of 14:54.65. Locking up the one-two-three finish were sophomore Carlos Omana (Miami, Fla.) and senior Jason Taylor (Plant City, Fla.) who took second and third respectively. Freshman Ryan Rosenbaum (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) added a fifth place finish and sophomore Thomas Veale (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) took 10th. All five earned NCAA “B” times.

Junior Elizabeth Beisel (North Kingstown, R.I.) continued to have a stellar meet, recording her third NCAA “A” cut with her win in the 200 backstroke. Beisel swam a meet record 1:52.00, in her third win of the weekend. She also added an 11th place finish, and NCAA “B” cut time in the 200 fly with a time of 1:56.85.

Also swimming in the A-final was freshman Sinead Russell (Burlington, Ontario) and fellow freshman Ashlee Linn (Southfield, Mich.). Russell came in third in a time of 1:53.20 and Linn was fourth in 1:53.56 as they each swam NCAA “B” cuts.

On the men’s side, junior Connor Signorin (East Windsor, N.J.) finished fourth with a personal-best time of 1:44.36, sophomore Matt Thompson (Seminole, Fla.) finished seventh in a time of 1:46.62 and senior Cameron Martin (Clearwater, Fla.) was eighth stopping the clock at 1:46.80.

For the women, junior Ellese Zalewski (Melbourne, Australia), freshman Natalie Hinds (Midland, Texas) and junior Kaitlin Frehling (St. Petersburg, Fla.) finished third fourth and eight respectively in the 100 freestyle. Zalewski and Hinds both earned NCAA “B” cuts finishing in 48.91 and 48.96.

Junior Brad deBorde (Longwood, Fla.), freshman Pawel Werner (Wroclaw, Poland) and sophomore Matt Curby (Oviedo, Fla.) scored for the Gators with their second, third and eighth place finishes in the men’s 100 free. Both swam NCAA “B” times, deBorde stopping the clock at 43.43 and Werner 43.78.

The women added more valuable points as three Gators swam in the A-final of the 200 breast. Junior Hilda Luthersdottir (Harfnarfjordur, Iceland) finished third in a time of 2:11.40, senior Sarra Lajnef (Tunis, Tunisia) was fifth touching in 2:13.08 and sophomore Rebecca Rainer (Richmond, Va.) took eight in 2:15.49.

Florida’s men went one-two in the 200 breast as sophomore Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (Madrid, Spain) won with a meet record 1:55.10. Fellow sophomore Matt Elliott (Peoria, Ill.) was second in a time of 1:57.72 and sophomore Dan Wallace (North Berwick, Scotland) took fifth in a time of 1:59.28.

In the 200 fly, Dubrasky, senior Jamie Bohunicky (Gainesville, Fla.) and Beisel each earned NCAA “B” times. Dubrasky finished sixth in a time of 1:59.26, Bohunicky was seventh in 1:59.37 and Beisel 11th with a 1:56.85.

Junior Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland) earned his first NCAA “A” time of the season with a first place finish and meet record in the men’s 200 fly in a time of 1:42.88. Finishing just behind him for Florida’s third top-two finish was fellow junior Sebastien Rousseau (Cape Town, South Africa) who touched in the wall in 1:43.01. Also scoring top-10 finishes were Martin in seventh and Signorin in 10th.

The final event of the meet was the 400 freestyle relay. The Gators closed out a strong meet with NCAA “A” cut times for both the men and women’s relay teams. The group of Hinds, Zalewski, Frehling and Beisel finished second in a time of 3:16.82 for the women. On the men’s side, Werner, deBorde, Rousseau and Curby combined for a time of 2:53.71 to finish second.

The Gators will not be back in action until the spring season when they host Florida Atlantic on January 19 at 1 p.m.

Courtesy of UF Communications