Sunday is the final day of the 2014 All-Florida Invite in Gainesville. Both the Florida men and Florida women lead into the final day, with margins that are almost insurmountable in the team scoring.
The Cal women, though, got out on an early jump on Sunday morning, including taking the top three spots in the 200 backstroke. Liz Pelton had her best prelims so far this weekend with a 1:56.08 as the top seed. Her National Team teammate Missy Franklin qualified 2nd in 1:57.57, and Melanie Klaren, as the third-best Cal swimmer in prelims (1:59.35), will slip down to the B-Final tonight.
Florida’s Ashlee Linn joined them under two minutes, with a 1:59.88. That puts her as the 3rd-seed in tonight’s A-Final.
The women’s 100 free final should be an exciting one. Florida’s Natalie Hinds, coming shortly after a 200 back swim, raced to the top qualifying spot in the women’s 100 free with a 49.37. She was one of three swimmers under 50 seconds, with Florida State’s Kaitlyn Dressel taking 2nd in 49.76 and Cal’s Missy Franklin taking 3rd in 49.95.
Liz Pelton (50.70) beat out teammates Rachael Acker (50.77), Farida Osman (51.03), and Camille Cheng (51.06) for Cal’s second spot in the A-Final tonight.
As they slide down, that will allow Florida Gulf Coast’s Emma Svensson, who was 9th-fastest in the morning in 51.42, into the A-Final. After splitting a 48 on a relay earlier in the meet, Svensson should be in contention for top three points in finals. The battle between her and Dressel will be an important one in the team race, as Florida Gulf Coast is trying to beat Florida State at this meet for the first time in program history.
Cal went 1-2-3 in the 200 breaststroke just like they did earlier in the 200 back. Sophomore Marina Garcia took the top seed in 2:16.28, followed by teammates Celina Li (2:20.55) and freshman Maija Roses (2:20.61).
The top non-Gator was Paige Scheriger (2:20.76), though Lindsey McKnight should improve upon her 2:21.29 from prelims, where she had little pressure to qualify through to finals.
Li came back an event later to take the top seed in 2:01.26 in the women’s 200 fly, just ahead of Chelsea Britt (2:01.29) and Noemie Thomas (2:01.98). Those three have all swum very well this weekend, which should make for a great race in finals. Of the three, Britt swam the best in the last 50 meters, and finals will reveal if that’s a trend or if she simply pushed herself the hardest to ensure a swim in finals.
On the men’s side, Florida’s Pawel Werner, who won the 200 free on Saturday, looked healthy again on Sunday morning with a 44.73 in the men’s 100 free for the top seed. Thiago Sickert from Nova Southeastern took 2nd in 45.01, and Caeleb Dressel was 3rd in 45.25.
Most of the best swims from the men are expected to come tonight. Other good morning swims included a 1:47.90 NCAA “B” standard from Florida State’s Connor Knight in the 200 fly, with Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez sitting 2nd in 1:48.56.
Saturday prelims results available here.
Sunday finals heat sheets (tentative) available here.
Why the SLAM comments about the times for the 100 free?
(1) They are PRELIM times.
(2) Many of these ladies are swimming a lot of events.
(3) It is VERY early in the collegiate S&D season,
(4) Each school is proceeding at the development stages set for their teams.
Come February and March, 2015 many should be swimming in the 48-49 second range with a few around 47.
Very slow 100 free.
Slow 100 free times. Maybe they’ll show up a bit more at finals.