DAVIE – Juniors Alli Crenshaw and Kelsey Gouge added to their individual freestyle win totals in the 1,000 and 100 respectively, while junior Morgan Burns and freshman Peyton Breault each had a pair of second-place finishes, though 11th-ranked Nova Southeastern defeated #6 Florida Southern 157½-104½ in their Saturday afternoon dual meet.
The Moccasins had the lead early in the meet thanks to Crenshaw (Marietta, Ga.), Breault (Jacksonville, Fla.) and two more of their distance swimmers, junior Heather Burns (Lake City, Fla.) and sophomore Elizabeth Fris (Holland, Mich.). After the Sharks had won the 200-medley relay, the Moccasins had Crenshaw, Burns, and Fris take the top three spots in the 1,000-freestyle, and though Nova won the 200-freestyle that followed, Breault finished second and Crenshaw was fourth to give FSC enough points to retain the lead.
Nova took the lead, however, when Emma Wahlstrom won the 100-backstroke for the first of her two backstroke wins in the meet. The Mocs kept it close when Morgan Burns, sophomore Cassie Ley (Hilton Head, S.C.), and freshman Jacinda Whittenburg (Lakewood, Colo.) placed second, third, and fourth in the 100-breaststroke, but the Sharks went 1-2-3 in the 200-butterfly to begin pulling away.
After that, the Moccasins got two NCAA "B" times from Gouge (Snellville, Ga.), who was second in the 50-freestyle and first in the 100. In the 50, she was 0.11 seconds behind Nova's Bryndis Hansen, and in the 100, Gouge beat Hansen by 0.01 seconds. In each of those two sprints, the Mocs also had the third-place swimmer with freshman Britt Aubley (Jacksonville, Fla.) holding that position in the 50, and sophomore Riley McClendon (Mansfield, Texas) doing it in the 100.
Breault then notched her second runner-up finish of the meet in the 200-backstroke, and Morgan Burns got her second in the 200-breaststroke. The Mocs later received runner-up finishes from sophomore Alex Ballard (Kingfisher, Okla.) in the 100-butterfly, and Whittenburg in the 200-IM.
Other top performers for Florida Southern were sophomore Lily Rose (Rockley, Barbados) in the 100-backstroke, sophomore Madi Rowan (Matthews, N.C.) in the 200-butterfly, and Heather Burns in the 500-freestyle.
Florida Southern will swim in its final dual meet of the season on Saturday, January 17, when it hosts NJCAA National Champion Indian River State at 11:30 a.m.
