Following the first day of competition at the Sunshine State Conference Swimming Championship at the Orlando YMCA Aquatic Center, both of Florida Tech’s men’s and women’s teams are in fifth-place. (Image by Jim Hogue)
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Following the first day of competition at the Sunshine State Conference Swimming Championship at the Orlando YMCA Aquatic Center, both of Florida Tech’s men’s and women’s teams are in fifth-place.
The Panther men have accumulated 79 points, sandwiched between Saint Leo with 125 and Rollins with eight.
On the women’s side, FIT has 44 points, behind Lynn with 74 and Rollins with 39.
Freshman Yahog Kubagawa was the top finisher for the Panthers. The Brazilian native grabbed fourth in the 1,000-yard freestyle, timing in at an FIT-record 9:22.58, just under 13 seconds faster than the previous best time.
Three more school-records fell later in the day. Nir Barnea raced to a 20.26 in the 50-yard freestyle, good for fifth-place in the “A” final.
Dar Raz was runner-up in the women’s 50-yard freestyle “B” final, touching in 24.07.
In the men’s 200-yard medley relay, Kaikea Nakachi, Brian Dumont, Barnea and Thomas Steenberg bested their Panther-record with a time of 1:32.45.
Overall, head coach Justin Andrade was pleased with his teams’ performances.
Justin Andrade
“It was a good first few sessions,” said Head Coach Justin Andrade.
“It took the team a little bit of time to settle into the meet but once they did they performed very nicely. It was great to break four records on the first day. We are anxious to see what happens over the next few days.”
Competition at the SSC Championship will resume on Friday beginning at 10 a.m. ET with the 400-yard individual medley preliminaries.
