LAKELAND, FL – Peyton Breault swept the two backstroke events, and Jacinda Whittenburg picked up a win in the 200-IM, but 6th-ranked Nova Southeastern won the remaining races to pick up a 179-83 decision over Florida Southern on a chilly Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The two wins by Breault marked the fourth time in the senior's career she won both backstroke races, with the other three occasions coming in her sophomore season. It's the second time she's pulled off a backstroke sweep against Nova Southeastern. Saturday she won the 100 in a time of 58.50 to beat Courtney DeVeny by 1.78 seconds, with Nova's Madison Allen third. Later in the meet, Breault again finished ahead of DeVeny in the 200, defeating the reigning conference champion by more than four seconds with a time of 2:07.09.
- Whittenburg's victory came near the end of the meet as she bested Alyssa Roehr of Nova Southeastern by 1.98 seconds with a winning time of 2:10.28. It was her fifth individual win of the season, tying her with Breault for the team lead.
- The day started with the 200-medley relay where Nova Southeastern topped Florida Southern for the top position. Following the Sharks' winning time of 1:46.51, the Mocs got a 1.49.50 from Peyton Breault, Jacinda Whittenburg, Katja Hajdinjak and Krystal Karas.
- The first individual race of the day was extremely tight with Nova Southeastern's Madison Yelle edging Florida Southern's Katie Moore by 0.08 seconds in the 1,000-freestyle. Moore's time of 10:33.55 was the Mocs' best of the season in that event by 17 seconds.
- In the 200-freestyle, the first three swimmers finished within 0.82 seconds of each other, led by Nova Southeastern's Emma Sundstedt in 1:55.09. Alina Schulhofer was second and Florida Southern's Katja Hajdinjak was third.
- The Moccasins cut into the scoring deficit when Breault won the 100-backstroke and Mallary Meyer finished fourth to give the Mocs the advantage in that race, and the Mocs then had Haley DeGrace and Jacinda Whittenburg place second and third in the 100-breaststroke behind Malin Westman's 1:06.92.
- Nova took the top four positions in the 200-butterfly before Rebeka Dics came in fifth for Florida Southern. Caroline Oster earned the win for the Sharks in 2:06.90.
- The Sharks went into the first break with first and second-place finishes in the 50-freestyle led by Sydney Panzarino in 24.17 seconds. Karas was the Mocs' best swimmer in third place in 24.95 seconds, with Allison Greenwood right behind her in 25.24.
- Coming out of the break, the 100-freestyle was won by Nova Southeastern's Jordan Shows in 53.07 seconds, with Hajdinjak second in 53.40 seconds.
- The 200-back and the 200-breast went much the same way as the 100 races did earlier in the meet, with Breault and Westman again winning those respective events. DeVeny was again the runner-up to Breault in the 200-back, but in the 200-breast, the two Moccasins reversed their position with Whittenburg second and DeGrace third.
- Sundstedt earned her second win of the meet by taking the 500-freestyle in 5:07.95, and Yelle was second in 5:13.67. The Moccasins' best swimmer was Breault, who placed fifth in 5:16.78.
- Jenna Johns completed the list of individual winners Saturday by taking the 100-butterfly for Nova Southeastern and edging out Oster by 0.58 seconds, with Hajdinjak third in 59.25 seconds, and Kimmy Chang fourth.
- The Sharks won the final event of the day, the 200-freestyle relay with their top team finishing 2.69 seconds ahead of Greenwood, Britt Aubley, Dics, and Moore.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Breault and Whittenburg are not only tied for the team lead in individual wins this year, they are tied for the most in their careers among current Moccasin swimmers. Each has won 19 races over the last four seasons.
UP NEXT
Florida Southern's next meet is Friday, January 19 when it hosts Saint Leo at 3 p.m. Please note this a schedule change from earlier in the season and it will be the Moccasins' final home meet of the season.
