DAVIE - Following two days of competition at the third-annual NSU Shark Invitational, Florida Southern sits in fourth place out of eight teams with 296 total points at the meet hosted by Nova Southeastern University and held at the NSU Aquatic Center.
The Moccasins, who scored 56 points to stand in third place after Friday's first day of action, tallied 240 points on Saturday as they took home first place finishes in three of the five events held on Saturday's second day of competition.
After two days of competition, Nova Southeastern leads the way with 434 points, while Florida International is second with 412.5 points and Tampa is third with 397.5 points. Rollins stands behind the Mocs in fifth place with 125 points and the Tars are followed by Catawba (114 points) in sixth, Lenoir-Rhyne (86 points) is in seventh and Lynn (83 points) is eighth.
Freshman Kelsey Gouge (Snellville, Ga.) had a hand in all three of those first place finishes as she swam a season-best and NCAA Division II 'B' qualifying time of 23.17 in the 50-yard freestyle to finish almost a second faster than Tampa's Erin Plachy (23.91), who finished in second place. In addition, Gouge swam the lead leg on FSC's first place 200-yard freestyle relay team and swam the second leg on the school's first place 400-yard medley relay team.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team, which also included freshman Lauren Reynolds (St. Charles, Ill.), senior Stephanie Doran (Flowery Branch, Ga.) and senior Anna McIntyre (Kansas City, Mo.), swam a season-best and 'B' qualifying time of 1:35.29 to outdistance second place Tampa by a little over a second (1:36.39) and the 400-yard medley relay team, which also consisted of Reynolds, Doran and sophomore Catie Carden (Hixson, Tenn.), swam a season-best and 'B' qualifying time of 3:50.82 to finish a little over four seconds in front of second place finisher Tampa (3:54.95).
Along with Gouge in the 50-yard freestyle, Reynolds finished fourth with a season-best time of 24.32, while Doran swam a time of 24.46 to finish fifth in the 50 free. Reynolds' time of 24.32 was one second shy of earning a 'B' qualifying time.
In the 500-yard freestyle, freshman Heather Burns (Lake City, Fla.) was the top Moc finisher as she swam a time of 5:07.50 to finish in 13th place, while freshman Morgan Burns (Hilton, N.Y.) swam a personal best time of 2:10.04 to finish fifth in the 200-yard IM.
The NSU Shark Invitational will continue Sunday morning at 10 a.m. and will conclude on Monday. The teams will swim preliminary heats in the morning, with the event finals slated for 5 p.m. on Sunday and 4 p.m. on Monday. A live video stream of the finals for each event can be found at www.nsusharks.com.
Complete second day results from the NSU Shark Invitational
