LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College men's and women's swimming teams open the 2023-24 season this weekend hosting Florida Tech for Alumni Weekend. The meet will begin at 12 p.m. on Saturday at the Nina B. Hollis Wellness Center Pool.
2023-24 Season Opener
Opponent – Florida Tech | Alumni Weekend for the Mocs
Date – Oct. 7 at 12 p.m.
Location – Nina B. Hollis Wellness Center Pool | Lakeland, Fla.
Live Video -
https://www.sunshinestateconference.tv/floridasouthern/
The Mocs are ready to start a new season after last year's successful rounds in the Sunshine State Conference tournament and a great showing in the NCAA Championships. Last year's men's squad finished third and the women's team fourth in the conference championship. On the national stage, the men finished 11
th and the women 32
nd, highlighted by
Matteo Zampese's National Runner-Up finishes in the 200 IM and 100 breast. Though losing Zampese and others to graduation, the Mocs returned several key event runners and added many others in a run for conference and NCAA titles.
"The Sunshine State Conference is one of the most competitive conferences in Division II," said head coach
Andy Robins. "We are excited to get the season started and really put to test all our hard work in the offseason and early weeks of training. While we lost some great swimmers to graduation, we have a strong class of freshmen and transfers who are excited to get to work and looking forward to the challenges of a new season."
Men's Team
Florida Southern had several returners from the 2022-23 men's team, including two NCAA qualifiers and each of the three relay alternates from last year's national run. Highlighting the returners is SSC and FSC record-holder
Kyle Micallef for his final year. Micallef tied for sixth in the 50 free in the NCAA finals, setting new conference and school records, having earned six All-American awards in the 2023 championships.
Micallef was also part of record-breaking relay performances joining
Cameron Lai-Harris and
Brandon Wilson as returners whom Robins states have continued to improve throughout the opening weeks of practice.
Niko Frese is the final relay alternate who will continue to add valuable points in each of the meets with
Ludwig Mueller the final NCAA qualifier returner. In addition to his great performances in the pool, Mueller was honored with the distinguished NCAA Elite 90 award as the highest GPA men's swimmer at the NCAA Championships.
Other returners for the Mocs include
Boris Mitev and
Clyde Crouse. Crouse will start his first full season with the Mocs after joining midway through as a transfer from Emmanuel College. With a year of experience under their belt, a stacked sophomore class includes distance swimmer
Thomas Wooldridge filling a lost role from graduated swimmers.
Reese Whelan, Nicko Peristeridis, William Eriksson, and
Tristan Clanton continue to improve and could break the threshold just missed last season to qualify as individuals at the NCAA finals.
Robins added two transfers to the men's swim team
Nino Viallon and
John Zeiger. Viallon is a transfer from nearby Saint Leo University, who lost their swim programs this past year. A butterfly and backstroke swimmer, Viallon finished fourth in the 100 fly and 100 back at the SSC Championships. A transfer from Indian River State College, Zeiger holds the 800 free record at IRSC and was part of last season's NCJAA National Championship team for IRSC, their 49
th such title.
Rounding out the men's team was the signing of six freshmen to the team.
Carson Blair, Walter Christman, Peter Csicsaky, Shawn Erdley, Erick Magalhaes, and
Travis Oleson join the Mocs and have shown great potential in recent practices. On this year's freshman class, Robins said, "We have a great group of freshmen that I feel can really add valuable positions, relays, and points at the conference tournament and possibly some NCAA qualifiers."
Women's Team
A veteran squad on the women's side, Robins has much to be excited about with all but one of the six 2022-23 NCAA qualifiers returning for another year.
Allie Brinton, record holder in the 200 fly, has another year with the Mocs as one of eight seniors.
Jazzy Hoffmann, a record holder herself in many of the sprinting events for Florida Southern, will look to cap off her senior year with a great year along with
Emily Peck, who was named All-SSC Second Team in 2021-22. The remaining seniors include
Stephanie Suarez, Teagan Michalek, Brooke Brennan, and
Morgan Champagne. Joining FSC as a transfer from Saint Leo is an IM and fly swimmer
Vanda Voroshazy.
Two more NCAA qualifiers from last year,
Alizee Pelletier and
Olivia Miles have continued to shine and emerge as key figures on the team this year. Pelletier has competed great at the conference stage, including an FSC record in the 200 breast at the SSC Championships last season. Miles will look for her third consecutive year as an NCAA qualifier in a distance role with an SSC Championship already under her belt and two Honorable Mention All-America honors.
Kennidi TenEyck, Molly Kennedy, Angelina Fazzino, Janie Davis, and
Anya Bogdanova each returned as juniors this year, each with great experience at dual meets and the SSC tournament.
An NCAA appearance as a freshman last season,
Elizabeth Sikes returns with a great role in the butterfly event and an Honorable Mention All-America honor last year in the 800 free relay.
Emma Sammons, Phoebe Reid, and
Ainsley Bennett (Ocala, Fla. native) each return and hope to break the Mocs into a podium finish at the SSC tournament this season.
Four freshmen were added to the women's team this season in
Ella Sieber, Casey McNulty, Kelsey Leaper, and
Ainsley Bennett (Hannibal, Mo. native). Similar to the men's team, Robins feels that the freshman class can really add valuable events to the Mocs at dual meets and the SSC tournament where points are a valuable commodity and key to a podium or title finish.
Coaching Staff
Entering his sixth season with the Mocs, Robins is joined once again by
Maddie Samples as his assistant coach. Robins has extensive experience at the collegiate level in coaching and has many accolades at the helm for Florida Southern. The 2021-22 SSC Coach of the Year, Robins led the Mocs to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA tournament that year, including FSC's 27
th individual national champion in Ludo Viberti in the 100 breast. At the conference level, Robins led the men's team to an SSC title in 2021-22 and has coached swimmers to 22 SSC individual titles and 140 All-American honors in his five seasons. Samples is in her second season with the Mocs having helped FSC to a great NCAA showing last season and Zampese being named the SSC Male Athlete of the Year.
Florida Southern College Swimming
Both the men's and women's swimming teams at FSC have a storied history at the conference and national level. The Mocs have been National Runner-Up as a team two times in 2013 and 2014 under the recently named SSC Coach of the Decade Duncan Sherrard. The women's team has one SSC title with its best NCAA finish seventh on two different occasions under Sherrard. The men's team has been SSC's best on five different occasions, the last being 2021-22 with Robins and previously a four-year stretch from 2013-2016.
The FSC swimming teams combined for 11 NCAA Individual National Championships (27 total for FSC) with two women's swimmers, Mary O'Sullivan and SSC Female Swimmer of the Decade Allie Crenshaw national champions. The men have SSC Male Swimmer of the Decade winner Jeb Halfacre with Matthew Holmes and Ludovico Viberti (most recent in 2022 – 100 breast). The men's team also holds six NCAA Relay National Championships, the last in 2016 with the 200 and 400 medley relay.
