LAKELAND – Florida Southern's final dual meet of the season against junior college national power Indian River State gave the Moccasins a chance to go into the postseason with a bang and they made sure that happened. With distance swimmers Elizabeth Fris and Heather Burns setting the pace early, and Kelsey Gouge again sweeping the sprints, #6 Florida Southern defeated Indian River State 109-96 Saturday afternoon.
The Pioneers, who have won the last 32 national junior college championships, won the 400-medley relay to open the meet, but the Moccasins won the first three individual races and never looked back after that. Fris and Burns finished 1-2 in the 1,000-freestyle to get the Mocs going in the right direction, Gouge won the 50-freestyle and 100-freestyle, and junior Alli Crenshaw picked up wins in the 200-freestyle and 500-freestyle.
Fris notched her first career win by swimming the 1,000 in 10:36.28, though it wasn't her fastest time of the season. The sophomore from Holland, Michigan had already quietly hit an NCAA provisional time earlier this season in the 1,000 as well as the 500 and 1,650. Burns, a junior from Lake City, Florida was second on Saturday, and like Fris, had already achieved "B" times in all three distance events. The Moccasins also picked up two points in the 1,000 from sophomore Riley McClendon (Mansfield, Texas), and it was those two points that put them ahead to stay in the meet.
The Moccasins had another 1-2 finish in the 200-freestyle, won by Crenshaw (Marietta, Ga.) in 1:54.17, with freshman Peyton Breault (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1.5 seconds behind her. Breault finished more than two seconds ahead of her closest competitors from Indian River.
Gouge then won the first of her two races by swimming the 50-yard freestyle in an NCAA "B" qualifying time of 24.03 seconds. The junior from Snellville, Georgia hit another "B" time in the 100-freestyle, where she posted a time of 52.56 seconds. It was her fourth consecutive victory in the 100, and the fourth time this year she's won both the 100 and the 50 in the same meet.
The Mocs also got a second-place finish in the 50 from sophomore Cassie Ley (Hilton Head, S.C.), the third straight race in Saturday's meet in which Florida Southern had the top two swimmers. The Pioneers broke that streak by winning the 200-IM just before the first break, but the Moccasins still had junior Morgan Burns (Hilton, N.Y.) come in second for the first of her two runner-up finishes in the meet.
Sophomore Kourtney Gavin (Jacksonville, Fla.) gave them another second in the 100-butterfly, a race Indian River won, but a race where the Mocs nearly matched them in points with sophomore Alex Ballard (Kingfisher, Okla.) and Rowan placing third and fourth. Rowan ended up with her best time of the season
After Gouge's win in the 100-freestyle, the Mocs got second- and third-place finishes from Breault and sophomore Lily Rose (Rockley, Barbados) in the 100-backstroke, with Breault posting her best time of the season too.
The distance swimmers took over again in the 500-freestyle where Crenshaw won with an NCAA "B" time of 5:06.60, Fris was third and Heather Burns was fourth.
The final individual race went to Indian River in the 100-breaststroke, with Morgan Burns claiming second, and the Pioneers also won the 200-freestyle relay.
With the regular season complete, Florida Southern will now prepare for the Sunshine State Conference Championships in Orlando, to be held February 19-22.
