ORLANDO, FL – The first day of the 2017 Sunshine State Conference Swimming Championships saw Florida Southern add three new names to the list of potential NCAA qualifiers in the 50-freestyle, one swimmer give the Moccasins their first provisional time of the season in the 200-individual medley, and a freshman in a new role help one of their relay teams improve its chances of qualifying for the national finals.

The Moccasins ended the night in third place with 118 points, trailing Nova Southeastern (211) and Tampa (179). The Sharks and Spartans combined for all four of the event wins on Thursday. Saint Leo was fourth with 95 points, Lynn was fifth with 70, and Rollins and Florida Tech were tied for sixth with 39.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The first event of Thursday night's finals session saw Nova Southeastern take the top four spots in the 1,000-freestyle, led by junior Madison Yelle in 10:09.30. All of them were within 3.32 seconds of each other, and three other Nova swimmers were in point positions too, giving the Sharks a commanding early lead. Florida Southern's top swimmer was senior Madi Rowan who placed 13th with a season-best time of 10:42.60.
• Florida Southern got three swimmers into the championship finals of the 200-IM, where junior Jacinda Whittenburg finished fourth in 2:014.15. That was enough to give her an NCAA provisional qualifying time in that event for the first time this year. She finished 2.46 seconds behind the winning Courtney DeVeny of Nova Southeastern and was only one one-hundredth of a second behind third-place Malin Westman. DeVeny had been second to Tampa's Mckenzie Street in the prelims, but there positions were reversed in the finals. Senior Kourtney Gavin finished seventh and sophomore Haley DeGrace was eighth.
• Tampa senior Marisa Barton won the 50-freestyle for the second year in a row, swimming that race in 23.01 seconds. Sophomore Krystal Karas finished fifth for Florida Southern in 23.51, an NCAA "B" time that was her best of the season. The Moccasins then cleaned up in the consolation finals where junior Peyton Breault, sophomore Rebeka Dics and junior Britt Aubley took the top three spots separated by 0.05 seconds, and all three of them had their first NCAA "B" times of the year in the 50-free. Aubley's time of 24.05 seconds was the exact time needed.
• Florida Southern ended the night with a fourth-place finish in the 200-medley relay as freshman Mallary Meyer teamed up with DeGrace, Gavin and Aubley for the Mocs' best time of the season and an NCAA provisional mark of 1:44.85. Nova Southeastern won the relay in 1:42.98.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Tampa's Britt Bayes won the 1,000-free two years ago as a freshman when she set the SSC Championship record but came in fifth this year.
• Whittenburg's time of 2:04.15 in the 200-IM was the best for a Moccasin at the conference finals since 2011 when Rae-Lynn Sheffield won the event in 2:04.12.
• Aubley, who was an All-American at last year's national finals as a relay swimmer, earned her first individual "B" time of the season. Meyer earned her first in any event after being moved into the leadoff spot on the Mocs' top 200-medley relay team.

UP NEXT:

The SSC Championships continue Friday with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals in five events at 6 p.m.