WINTER PARK â€" With six different swimmers winning individual events, and sophomore Lauren Reynolds and freshman Leah Haney each on a pair of winning relay teams, 4th-ranked Florida Southern remained undefeated in dual meets with a 147-58 win at Rollins on Friday.
Reynolds (South Elgin, Ill.) and Haney (Evans, Ga.) were also among the individual winners for the Moccasins, who are now 4-0, with all four wins coming against other Sunshine State Conference schools. They got the Mocs started Friday with a winning time of 1:52.53 in the 200-yard medley relay, beating out the Tars’ top team by 0.58 seconds. Reynolds has been the leadoff swimmer in that event for the Mocs’ “A†team all season, and was joined this time by sophomore Morgan Burns (Hilton, N.Y.), junior Catie Carden (Hixson, Tenn.), and Haney, who was on anchor.
Haney and Reynolds would later win back-to-back events in the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke, sparking the Moccasins to a run of five straight victories to end the meet. Haney picked up her win in the 100 freestyle by matching her best time of the season (55.94 seconds). It was the first individual win of her college career after two runner-up finishes in previous freestyle races. Reynolds followed her with a winning time of 2:07.50 in the 200-backstroke, giving her a 6-0 record in all dual-meet backstroke races this season.
That same pair then ended the Rollins meet by swimming the first two legs of the 200-yard freestyle relay, which clocked in at 1:39.24. Sophomores Alli Crenshaw (Marietta, Ga.) and Kelsey Gouge (Snellville, Ga.) were on the final two legs, which gave the Mocs a margin of almost 3½ seconds over Rollins.
Crenshaw was the only Moccasin with two solo wins, taking the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.06) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:11.85). She’s now won both events each time she’s competed this season.
Gouge picked up second win in the 50-yard freestyle in an NCAA “B†qualifying time of 24.03 seconds, while freshman Cassie Ley (Hilton Head, S.C.) and sophomore Morgan Burns won the 200-yard IM and the 200-yard breaststroke respectively. It was also the second win of the season for Ley and Burns in those events, and Burns was runner-up to Ley in the 200-IM as well.
The Moccasins took the top three positions in three events, which included the 200-IM where Ley and Burns were first and second, followed by freshman Alex Ballard (Kingfisher, Okla.). Reynolds, freshman Lily Rose (Rockley, Barbados), and Ballard later went 1-2-3 in the 200-backstroke just before Crenshaw, Heather Burns (Lake City, Fla.), and Ley did the same in the 500-freestyle.
In the 1,000-freestyle, which was the first individual race of the day, the Moccasins finished second, third and fourth, with senior Carlee McDonald (Panama City, Fla.), freshman Riley McClendon (Mansfield, Texas), and freshman Madi Rowan (Matthews, N.C.) claiming those spots to put Florida Southern ahead to stay.
Florida Southern’s next meet will be the Nova Southeastern Invitational in Davie, December 14-17.
