One has to get up pretty early in the morning to beat the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee, and as it turns out, 10AM Eastern Time isn’t quite early enough.
The Seminoles swept NCAA Division II Florida Southern in a two-session dual meet on Friday that began rather early, with scores of 168-119 on the men’s side and 171-114 on the women’s side. Florida State, in the last four-plus seasons, have only lost a single home dual meet from their men’s and women’s teams combined.
“We’re finally swimming with some aggression,” Florida State head coach Frank Bradley said. “We’re starting to put the pieces together. We had some kids swim some best times today and that is very rare for this time of the year. We’re growing into the team I know we’re capable of being.”
Men’s Meet
The men’s competition wasn’t quite as lopsided as one might expect when a quality Division I team faces off against a Division II team. The Florida Southern men are headed for a special year, and they very nearly pulled-off the upset in the 200 medley relay. Florida State wound up winning 1:31.07-1:31.20, but left the door open to the Mocs early in this meet.
That swim from Slorida Southern ranks them 3rd in Division II so far this year behind only powerhouses Drury and Queens.
The Mocs then took the first individual event of the meet as well when Jesus Marin won the men’s 200 free in 1:39.66, while Anthony Lyons of Florida State took 2nd in 1:39.95.
Florida State took control back of the meet by rattling off three-straight wins, though none of them were blowouts, with the exception of Connor Knight in the 200 yard fly. That’s his best time of the season by almost two seconds and moves him up to 5th in the country in the event this year.
In the men’s 500 free, Florida Southern’s Juan Tolosa (4:31.74) and Jesus Marin (4:35.33) went 1-2. Tolosa’s time not only won the race, but was the fastest time in Division II this season.
Florida State won another tight race in the 200 free relay heading into the session-split with a 1:21.41. Southern Florida was 2nd in 1:21.86.
Coming out of the break, the Seminoles took control, winning the first four events of the afternoon session, and with pretty significant margins in each of those races. That included another Connor Knight butterfly win as he swam 47.23 in the 100; and a second Jason McCormick victory, winning the 100 free in 44.31.
The Florida Southern men still got some good shots in, including a 50.07 win from Marco Palacios in the 100 back and a Juan Tolosa win in the 1000 free in 9:22.41, but by the end of the meet the Florida State Seminoles were exhibitioning swimmers to keep the scoring even as close as it was.
Overall, both teams had some really good performances, and both teams were able to expose holes in their opponents’ lineup. This was a better meet than the score indicated, and both teams will have things to be happy about walking away.
Women’s Meet
While the Florida Southern women did get some good shots in, they weren’t able to challenge the Florida State women as frequently as the men’s team was.
The best race of the night was the women’s 1000 free, where a pair of Seminoles (Daniella Van den Berg and Madison Jacobi) matched up against Florida Southern star Alli Crenshaw.
The Florida State girls charged to an early lead and got some distance on Crenshaw, but all night long the junior Crenshaw showed a good closing kick in this race.
She did that once again here with a 58.5 over the last 100 yards, but just came up short against van den Berg who was the 1st finisher in 1:06.21. Crenshaw took 2nd in 1:06.72, and Jacobi took 3rd in 10:07.17.
Florida State sprinter Kaitlyn Dressel looked very good, for the most part, across 6 total swims on the day. While her relay leadoffs weren’t as good as her individuals, those individuals were on-point with a 22.64 in the 50 free and a 49.20 in the 100 free. Florida State took at least the top four positions in each of those races. Even with a chance in coaches in the last few seasons, the depth in the Florida State sprint group remains strong in the women’s program.
Dressel’s swim in the 50 moved her up into a tie for the 4th-best in the country so far this year, which is the same spot she sits in the 100 (she was a matching 49.20 at the All-Florida Invite).
@ frank Bradley only reason yall were fast was because of suits