LAKELAND â€" Behind three wins by sophomore Alli Crenshaw, two by sophomore Kelsey Gouge, and two relay wins that featured sophomore Lauren Reynolds, #4 Florida Southern defeated #15 Nova Southeastern, 134-71 in its final home meet of the season.
The only swimmer who kept Florida Southern from sweeping the meet was Lauren Chapple, who gave the Sharks (4-2) both of their wins. Chapple won the 200-yard IM and the 200-yard butterfly back-to-back in the middle of the meet, but otherwise, it was all Florida Southern, which improved to 5-1 in dual meets this season.
The Moccasins took the day’s first race, the 400-yard medley relay, with Reynolds, Gouge, and freshmen Alex Ballard and Cassie Ley winning by more than six seconds. Crenshaw then posted back-to-back wins in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle before Gouge earned her first individual win in the 50-yard freestyle.
In the 1,000-freestyle, the Moccasins claimed first, second, and third, with Crenshaw beating out sophomore Heather Burns by 3.39 seconds, and freshman Elizabeth Fris 12.68 seconds behind. All three of the Mocs’ top swimmers in that event were well under 11 minutes, but none of the Nova Southeastern swimmers broke that mark.
In the 50-freestyle, Gouge won by 1.41 seconds over Nova’s Emma Lawrenz to earn her fourth straight win in the 50.
After the Sharks got their two wins from Chapple, Gouge started another streak for the Moccasins by taking the 100-yard freestyle by 2.58 seconds. It was her fifth straight win in the 100. Reynolds followed with a 4.5-second victory in the 200-yard backstroke, which was also her fifth straight win in that event.
In the final two individual races of the meet, the Moccasins owned the top two positions in the 500-freestyle, and the top three in the 200-breaststroke. They also won the 400-yard freestyle relay behind Reynolds, Heather Burns, Fris, and Riley McClendon.
Crenshaw’s third win of the day came in the aforementioned 500-freestyle, and it was a photo-finish with teammate Heather Burns. The two were separated by 0.44 seconds, with Crenshaw clocking in at 5:12.16.
Ley picked up the win on the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:30.11, followed by Morgan Burns and Fris. The individual win was the fourth of the season for Ley, but her first in the 200-breaststroke.
Florida Southern will close out the regular season on Saturday, January 18, at 38-time national junior college champion Indian River State College. The meet is scheduled for an 11:30 a.m. start.
