Beisel Sweeps 500 Free, 200 IM on Day 1 of All-Florida Invitational

The University of Florida Swimming and Diving teams jumped out to early leads during the first day of competition at the three-day Pinch A Penny All Florida Invitational at the O’Connell Center. The Gators notched six NCAA provisional marks on the first day of competition.

The Orange and Blue captured all four relay events and 10 of 12 events overall. Senior Elizabeth Beisel (North Kingstown, R.I.) led the women with a pair of victories in the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle. On the men’s side, a Gator touched in first in all three individual swimming events.

The meet features six programs from the state of Florida: Florida State, Miami, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida Southern, North Florida and Nova Southeastern.

The event consists of morning preliminary sessions each day and finals sessions each evening. Saturday and Sunday sessions begin at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Diving is taking place approximately one hour after the morning session on Saturday.

Scores: After the first day of competition the men lead second place Florida State 374-272. The women lead second place FSU 342-251.

Sound Bites: “It was a good way to start the season. It highlighted some of the things that we’ve worked on. I am really happy how everyone raced across the board. It wasn’t necessarily that they were fast, but it is how they raced across the board. I think at this time of year that is what you want to see.”- Head Coach Gregg Troy

“We saw some freshman do some things that we liked to see in their first competition. We saw some great swims from some people that are outstanding swimmers.” Head Coach Gregg Troy

Postseason Focus: Five Gators combined to notch six NCAA provisional marks on the first day of competition. Beisel delivered a 200 IM mark of 2:00.53 and a 500 free mark of 4:45.04, which earned her a pair of day one victories. Senior Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland) and junior Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (Madrid, Spain) finished 1-2 in the 200 IM with times of 1:46.00 and 1:46.76, respectively. Junior Carlos Omana (Miami, Fla.) finished fourth in the race after securing an NCAA B cut time of 1:49.09 in prelims. In the 500 free, junior Dan Wallace (North Berwick, Scotland) won the event with a swim of 4:23.09, good for his first national championship cut of the year.

Relay Magic: The men’s team ended the meet with an emphatic 1-2 finish in the 400 medley relay. The ‘A’ relay group of sophomore Corey Main (Auckland, New Zealand), junior Matt Elliott (Peoria, Ill.), Cieslak and senior Brad deBorde (Longwood, Fla.) took first in 3:15.69 and were followed close behind by the ‘B’ relay group of sophomore Christian Homer (Trinidad and Tobago), Solaeche-Gomez, red-shirt senior Sebastien Rousseau(Cape Town, South Africa) and junior Matt Curby (Oviedo, Fla.). In the 200 free relay, Homer, deBorde, Main and junior Ricky Munch (Clifton, Va.) won the event in 1:20.23

On the women’s side, the 200 free team of senior Ellese Zalewski (Melbourne, Australia), sophomore Natalie Hinds (Midland, Texas), sophomore Lindsey McKnight (Coral Springs, Fla.) and sophomore Sinead Russell(Burlington, Ontario, Canada) turned in a first place performance with a mark of 1:31.76. The 400 medley quartet of Russell, senior Hilda Luthersdottir (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland), Zalewski and Hinds came home with a swim of 3:42.58.

Major Debut: A pair of freshman dazzled in their debuts, each earning a spot in the evening finals. Mitch D’Arrigo (Rome, Italy) ended his 500 free run in third place with a mark of 4:26.05 after qualifying second in prelims. D’Arrigo was beat by upperclassmen Wallace and Rousseau (4:25.28). Danielle Valley (Bradenton, Fla.) also finished third in the 500 free (4:51.39) after posting the second fastest 500 free of prelims (4:50.79)

Splash and Dash: deBorde earned his first victory of the year with a time of 20.33 in the 50 free after entering the heat second behind Florida State’s Paul Murray. Main followed behind deBorde to give the Gators the 1-2 finish. On the women’s side Hinds (23.07) and Zalewski (23.23) finished second and third behind FSU’s Kaitlyn Dressel.

Springboard Action: Sophomore Kahlia Warner (Queensland, Australia), a late addition to last year’s squad, earned her first victory on the one-meter springboard with a score of 322.45.

Schedule of Events:

The above is a press release from the University of Florida.

Full day 1 results can be seen here.
The meet is being live-streamed by the Florida Swim Network.