This weekend was kickoff weekend in the state of Florida, as a swing by Florida Gulf Coast University to several in-state foes as a gator-less preview of what this season is going to look like for all four teams.
Florida Florida Gulf Coast, this is an exciting season, as it’s the first where they’re eligible for the NCAA Championships, if they earn the qualifying times.
FGCU 59, FIU 34
First, on Friday, The FGCU Eagles headed around the coastal curve to Miami to face off against Florida International University. The meet was shortened by rain and lightning, but not before we saw some solid performances from both teams, including wins from their two high-profile additions: Emma Svensson and Eva Lehtonen.
Svensson started off her college career with a win in her first individual event, the 50 free, with a time of 23.60. Lehtonen won the women’s 200 IM in 2:07.69 to pick up her first win after transferring from the University of Florida.
The star of the meet for FIU was diver Sabrina Beaupre, who won the 1-meter with a score that already has qualified her for the Zones. They also earned two new entries on the program’s all-time top 5 list, with Jesse Porter’s win in the 1000 free (10:25.00) and Kayla Derr’s win in the 200 free (1:54.28). Each of those stands as the 5th-best performance ever in the respective events.
Florida State 194, Miami 102; Florida State 214 FGCU 96; FGCU 157, Miami 141
On Saturday, around the corner in Coral Gables on the University of Miami campus, Florida State, Miami, and FGCU partook in a tri-meet. Florida State used its depth to dominate the competition, but the other two squads came down to an exciting finish.
Florida Gulf Coast led the meet off with a big win in the 200 medley relay in 1:44.06, which is almost identical to the time that the elite Stanford Cardinal put up the day before. That time was done even without their best breaststroker, Danielle Beaubrun, who finished 19th at the World Championships in the 50 breaststroke. With a good season, this relay could end up qualifying for the NCAA Championships and give the Eagles a big presence in March for the first time in the 5-year history of their program.
Florida State’s Charlotte Broadbent put up a swift time in the 1000 free in 10:15.35 to win a showdown with Lehtonen, who finished second in 10:23.49.
The women’s 100 back was a great showdown between Svensson and a young star from Florida State: Stephanie Sarandos. Not surprisingly, the sprint-specialist Svensson got out in this race very fast, and even though she gave back a few inches on the back-half of the race, she was able to hold the lead surprisingly well en route to a 56.11 win. Sarandos touched 2nd in 56.58. This is a great early measuring stick for the young Swede, as Sarandos was an NCAA qualifier in this event last year.
Another win by a Swedish swimmer came from Miami’s Sofia Johansson in the 100 breaststroke, where she really dominated the race to take the win in 1:03.52. Miami senior Kelsi Hall is a swimmer to watch nationally in the 50 free, with her win in 22.94. For a swimmer who didn’t even qualify for NCAA’s last year, this is a fantastic start to the season.
And with all of the focus on the 24th-ranked FGCU recruiting class, we can’t forget about Florida State’s 19th-ranked class that also showed up big today. Ginny Grams took the 100 fly (56.05) and 200 free (1:49.85). Between her, sophomore Tiffany Oliver, and sophomore Julia Henkel, they have the making of an NCAA scorer in the 800 free relay. With such a young group too, they could mature into a nationally-formidable relay quartet down the line.
The 4th piece of that group could be another freshman, Elizabeth Pepper, who placed runner-up in that 200 in 1:50.80. On a busy day, she also won the 200 fly (2:01.93) and placed 3rd in the 100 fly (57.33). From what we’ve seen so far, this class may have even been undervalued at #19 in the country.
