CLEARWATER, FLA. – A runner-up finish by junior Peyton Breault in the 500-freestyle gave Florida Southern one NCAA provisional qualifying time, and sophomore Krystal Karas gave them another in the 50-freestyle as the Moccasins overtook Indian River State in the team standings on day two of the Spartan Invitational. The Moccasins ended the day in third place, while Nova Southeastern moved ahead of Tampa for first.

Florida Southern had been two points behind Indian River State when the day began but was three points ahead when it ended. Nova Southeastern had trailed Tampa by four, but took first place at day's end by 36 (472-436). Florida Southern had 273 points, followed by Indian River (270), Lenoir-Rhyne (57) and Rollins (42).

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Breault gave Florida Southern its first points of the night with her second-place finish in the 500-freestyle. She broke the 5-minute mark for the first time this season (4:59.19) and bettered her season-best time coming into the meet by more than 15 seconds. It also gave her an NCAA provisional qualifying time by more than seven seconds. Nova Southeastern's Emma Wahlstrom won the race in 4:47.05, which was an NCAA automatic qualifying time.
• Nova Southeastern and Tampa each had two of the top four swimmers in the 200-IM, with Nova's Courtney DeVeny winning it, but Florida Southern claimed three of the next five scoring positions behind junior Jacinda Whittenburg, senior Kourtney Gavin and sophomore Haley DeGrace. Whittenburg was fifth overall in a season-best time of 2:06.85, falling less than one second short of an NCAA "B" time. Gavin was eighth in 2:10.18, and DeGrace won the consolation final in 2:08.83.
• The Moccasins also got two swimmers into the championship finals of the 50-freestyle where Karas finished fifth in 23.87 seconds, and sophomore Rebeka Dics was eighth in 24.39 seconds. Karas' time was an NCAA provisional time, though she had already hit that standard in November at Florida Gulf Coast. The Mocs got more points in the 50-free from junior Britt Aubley in the consolation finals.
• Florida Southern had two of the top five entries in the 400-medley relay where its A team finished third and the B team finished fifth out of 20. The team of Breault, DeGrace, Karas and Dics just missed an NCAA provisional time by 0.79 seconds, swimming the race in 3:51.37, their best of the season. Coming in 2.6 seconds behind them were freshman Kyra Fraser, Whittenburg, Gavin and Aubley. Nova Southeastern won the 400-medley relay in 3:43.79, giving the Sharks a win in three of the four events held on Saturday.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Before finishing second out of 24 swimmers in the 500-freestyle Saturday night, Breault had been third in the morning prelims behind Wahlstrom and another Nova swimmer, Georgina Allen. Allen, however, ended up eighth in the finals, and was fourth among the NSU swimmers in that event.
• Though DeGrace was officially ninth in the 200-IM by swimming in the consolation final, her time would have been good enough for seventh overall.

UP NEXT:

Day three of the Spartan Invitational will feature prelims that begin at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, with finals in six events at 6 p.m.