LAKELAND – Florida Southern got individual wins from Haley DeGrace, Peyton Breault, Jacinda Whittenburg, and Katja Hajdinjak, with Whittenburg adding a second win, but Tampa's strong start to the meet allowed the Spartans to defeat the Moccasins 166-96 Friday night. It was Florida Southern's first dual meet of the season, and the Mocs' 2017-18 home opener.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Tampa won the first four races of the night, and took the top three scoring positions in one of them before DeGrace broke that streak with a win in the 100-breaststroke. It turned out to be one of the closes races of the night, though it didn't come down to Florida Southern vs. Tampa. Instead, DeGrace edged out Whittenburg by 0.13 seconds, with the Spartans' Mckenzie Street 0.98 seconds behind.
- Later in the meet, it was the same two Moccasins finishing 1-2 in the 200-breaststroke, but their positions were reversed. This time it was Whittenburg with the win by 1.39 seconds over DeGrace, and Tampa's Ali Lombardi in third, 4.89 seconds behind.
- Whittenburg got her second win of the night in the 200-IM, edging out Tampa's Sophie Long by 0.47 seconds. It marks the third year in a row she's won two events in a dual meet against the Spartans.
- Breault won the 200-backstroke with a 3.12-second margin of victory over Chesca Rusca of Tampa, and Hajdinjak took the 100-butterfly by finishing 2.27 seconds ahead of teammate Kimmy Chang, who in turn was one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Tampa's Isabelle Spalding.
- In addition to her win in the 100-butterfly Hajdinjak, finished second in the 200-free and 100-free.
- Florida Southern's other top freestyle swimmers Friday night were Rachel Ringley with a fourth-place finish in the 50; Katie Moore with a third-place finish in the 500; and Madelyn Snodgrass with a third-place finish in the 1,000.
- Tampa's best event in term of top finishers was the 100-backstroke where the Spartans took the top four positions. Maria Di-Bella was fifth for Florida Southern.
- Chang, who had second-place finish in the 100-fly later in the night, was the Mocs' best swimmer in the 200-fly by placing fourth.
- Tampa won both relay races, the 200-medley and 200-free. The Mocs' top team of Di-Bella, DeGrace, Hajdinjak and Krystal Karas was second in the 200-medley relay, finishing 0.87 seconds behind the Spartans. In the 200-freestyle relay, it was Britt Aubley, Breault, Ringley and Mallary Meyer who took third.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Whittenburg's six individual wins against the Spartans in her career have come in the 200-breast and 200-IM as a sophomore, the 200-breast and 400-IM as a junior, and the 200-breast and 200-IM this year as a senior.
- Hajdinjak's win in the 100-fly was Florida Southern's first win over the Spartans in one of the butterfly events since Taylor Reynolds did that in the 100 in 2010.
UP NEXT
Florida Southern's next meet will be Saturday, November 4 in Tallahassee against Florida State and West Florida.
