TAMPA - Florida Southern began its 2012-13 season here Friday by posting a 148-114 victory over its Sunshine State Conference rival, Tampa, in a dual meet at the UT Aquatics Center.
The Moccasins, who finished third at the 2012 NCAA Division II National Championships, took home first place in eight of the 14 events contested and had first, second and third place finishes in three of those eight events. The Mocs finished second in both the 200-yard medley relay (1:33.72) and 200-yard freestyle relay (1:25.22).
Six different Mocs came away from the season opener with victories, including senior Miguel Ferreira (Caracas, Venezuela) and freshman Juan Tolosa (Guipuzcoa, Spain) claiming wins in multiple events. Ferriera finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke (57.50) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:07.54) and was on both of the relay teams, while Tolosa finished first in both the 500-yard freestyle (4:39.87) and the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:43.83) and was fifth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.23) in his first collegiate meet.
Other events winners for the Mocs were Raul Garrastazu (Dorado, P.R.), who won the 200-yard butterfly (1:53.24), junior Jason King (Smithville, Mo.), who won the 100-yard butterfly (51:26), Wei Pin Teh (Klang Selangor, Malaysia), who won the 200-yard IM (1:57.07) and junior Thomas Nguyen (Snellville, Ga.), who won the 200-backstroke (1:53.35).
The events in which the Mocs finished first, second and third were the 200-yard butterfly, 500-yard freestyle and 1,000-yard freestyle. In the 200-yard butterfly, Garrastazu finsihed first, King (1:53.48) and Ian Yext (Coopersburg, Pa.), who swam a time of 1:58.71, while in the 500-yard freestyle, Tolosa was joined in the Top 3 by Garrastazu (4:43.27) and sophomore Allan Gutierrez (San Pedro Sula, Honduras), who swam a time of 4:46.21 and in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Tolosa, Garrastazu (9:46.96) and Gutierrez (10:04.89) finished in the Top 3.
King also added a second place finish in the 200-yard IM (1:57.72), while Nguyen was second in the 100-yard backstroke (52.15) and junior Robbie Swan (Snellville, Ga.) finished second in the 50-yard freestyle (21.63) and 100-yard freestyle (47.07).
The Mocs will return to pool on Nov. 3 as they compete against Florida State and Emory in an 11 a.m. meet in Tallahassee.
