LAKELAND, FL – Two individual wins by Katie Moore, along with meet-ending wins by Jacinda Whittenburg and a Moccasin quartet in the 400-freestyle relay lifted 18th-ranked Florida Southern to a 143-121 victory over Saint Leo in the final home meet of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- After Saint Leo out-scored Florida Southern 14-4 in the 200-medley relay by taking first and third, the Moccasins responded with back-to-back individual wins from Allie Kaufmann and Moore that gave them the overall lead. Kaufmann's win came in the 1,000-freestyle, which was the senior's second of the season in that event. She posted a time of 11:19.29, beating Saint Leo's Charlie Langer by 3.27 seconds, with Madelyn Snodgrass coming in third.
- Moore notched her first win as a Moccasin by taking the 200-free in 1:54.53, missing an NCAA "B" time by less than one second. The junior transfer led a run of three straight Florida Southern swimmers with Peyton Breault second in 1:56.54 and Krystal Karas third in 1:56.81.
- After watching the Moccasins win back-to-back races, the Lions picked up back-to-back wins of their own in the 100-back and 100-breast, giving them the lead in the meet by six points. The first of those went to Maftuna Tuhtasinova in 59.32 seconds, and the Lions' Karina Kolb was second. The Mocs then got third place from Kyra Fraser in 1:03.21.
- Cecilie Holten won the 100-breast for Saint Leo in 1:04.83, but Florida Southern took second and third behind Haley DeGrace (1:05.92) and Whittenburg (1:06.58).
- In terms of individual wins, the Moccasins went one up on the Lions after Katja Hajdinjak captured the 200-butterfly in 2:12.01, with Moccasin swimmers Kimmy Chang and Snodgrass also finishing second and third. That put Florida Southern back on top in the meet with a 60-53 lead. The Mocs never trailed again, though the Lions kept it close.
- The 50-freestyle was the final race before the first break, and the Lions again evened the individual win totals at three apiece when Annie Lindstrom touched the wall in 24.44 seconds. Rebeka Dics was second for the Moccasins in 24.53, followed in succession by Allison Greenwood, Rachel Ringley and Britt Aubley.
- When the meet resumed the two teams once again traded wins as Natalia Garriock captured the 100-freestyle with an NCAA provisional qualifying time and Breault took the 200-backstroke. However, even though Garriock was victorious in her race, the Moccasins took three of the next four positions behind Dics, Karas and Greenwood.
- The Mocs then had three of the top four swimmers in the 200-back where Breault won in 2:05.74, and Tuhtasinova was exactly one second behind her for the Lions. Lanier Whitton finished third for the Mocs and Allison Hunter was fourth, expanding their lead in the meet from three points to 12.
- Holten finished off a breaststroke sweep by winning the 200 in 2:22.70, but the Mocs were again second and third with Whittenburg and DeGrace finishing in a dead heat at 2:23.26.
- Moore, who had earlier finished first in the 200-freestyle, picked up her second win of the meet for Florida Southern by swimming the 500 in 5:07.37, this time falling just 1.32 seconds off an NCAA provisional qualifying time. It was still enough to beat out Langner by more than 19 seconds.
- Garriock became the third swimmer in Friday's meet with multiple wins as she finished first in the 100-butterfly in 55.98 seconds (another "B" cut for the Saint Leo senior), 2.18 seconds ahead of Hajdinjak, with Dics coming in fourth for the Moccasins.
- Now leading by just seven points following the second break, and with only two events remaining, the Mocs were able to hold on to their lead as Whittenburg won the 200-IM in 2:09.17 for a margin of more than three seconds over Tuhtasinova. That made it virtually impossible for the Lions to catch the Mocs in the final event, and the team of Hajdinjak, Karas, Breault and Whittenburg made it official by edging the Lions by less than half a second in the 400-freestyle relay.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- With one win apiece on Friday, Whittenburg and Breault remained tied for the team lead this year with six apiece, and for their careers with 20 each.
- The Mocs have won the 400-freestyle relay two of the last three times it's been held, with the same team winning each of them against Rollins and Saint Leo, albeit in completely different slots (Hajdinjak, Karas, Breault and Whittenburg).
- Florida Southern and Saint Leo had not met in a dual meet in four years prior to Friday, and it was the Lions' first visit to Lakeland since January of 2012. The Mocs have now won six straight from the Lions in dual meets and are now 11-2 all-time against them.
UP NEXT
The Moccasins end the regular season with their next meet on Friday, January 26 at NJCAA national champion Indian River State. That meet is scheduled to get underway at 3 p.m.
