SAINT LEO â€" Heather Burns won the first two freestyle races of the meet, and Lauren Reynolds added a pair of backstroke wins later in the evening to help Florida Southern to a 159-94 win over Saint Leo.
Burns, a sophomore from Lake City, Florida, gave the Moccasins their first two individual wins Friday when she won the 1,000-yard freestyle in a time of 10:39.01, just 1.25 seconds ahead of Saint Leo’s Stephanie Martinez. She followed that with a 1.13-second victory over freshman teammate Alex Ballard (Kingfisher, Okla.) in the 200-yard freestyle, with a winning time of 1:59.14. The Mocs also took third place in the 200-freestyle, with Madi Rowan (Matthews, N.C.) coming in 1.53 seconds behind Ballard and just three one-hundredths of a second ahead Martinez.
By that point, with two individual races and one relay race in the books, the Moccasins held a 43-12 lead, and they added to it when Reynolds, a sophomore from South Elgin, Illinois, won the 50-yard backstroke in 28.04 seconds. She was followed by freshmen Lily Rose (Rockley, Barbados) and Kourtney Gavin (Jacksonville, Fla.), giving the Mocs the top three finishers in their second straight event.
Reynolds later won the 100-yard backstroke too, with Ballard and Rose right behind her. Reynolds’ time of 59.73 seconds marked the first time a Moccasin broke the one-minute barrier this season.
Ballard would earn a victory herself, the first of her college career, when she won the 50-yard butterfly, and freshman Riley McClendon (Mansfield, Texas) also picked up her first victory when she took the 500-yard freestyle. That was more than 16 seconds faster than McClendon swam in her first race at the All Florida Invitational in September.
Reynolds and Ballard both helped Florida Southern to its first “W†of the meet when they captured the 200-yard medley relay. Along with sophomore Kelsey Gouge (Snellville, Ga.) and freshman Cassie Ley (Hilton Head, S.C.), they put in a time of 1:49.95 to beat Saint Leo’s top team by nearly four seconds.
Gouge picked up an individual win in both the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke, and junior Catie Carden (Hixson, Tenn.) won the 100-yard butterfly.
Saint Leo did win the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races behind Bianca Muniz, with freshman Leah Haney (Evans, Ga.) taking second in both for Florida Southern.
The final two events of the meet, the 100-yard IM and the 200-yard freestyle relay, were swam as exhibitions by the Moccasins.
Florida Southern, now 2-0 in dual meets, will swim again Saturday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Florida Tech at the Hollis Wellness Center Pool.
