LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College women's swimming team nearly defeated the No. 7 University of Tampa Spartans in a home dual meet Friday afternoon at the Nina B. Hollis Wellness Center Pool.
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The Moccasins lost its Sunshine State Conference dual meet 197-171 in a closely contested meet between rivals. The Spartans won the meet with several top finishes to close out the emerging Mocs.
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The meet opened with the 400 medley relay as a team of
Zoë Celi, Alexa Paredes, Elizabeth Sikes, and
Ana Sales had a great finish with a time of 3:55.00.
Olivia Miles was the leading Moc in the 1000 free with a third-place finish in 10:46.01.
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The first FSC event win for the women's team was in the 200 free as
Ainsley Bennett (So.) won the event in 1:55.27. Celi then finished second in the 50 back in 27.77, the first of a few 50-yard events by the teams. In the 50 breaststroke, Paredes won in 30.48 ahead of the Spartans. A staple in the butterfly, Sikes won the 100 fly in 57.24 before Sales and
Sam Hunter took second and third in the 50 free. Hunter then followed with an event win in the 100 free in 53.97 as Celi had yet another podium finish, this time in the 100 back (59.99).
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Paredes scored her second event win with a 100 breaststroke time of 1:06.75, then an event win by Sikes in the 50 fly with a time of 26.20. Miles had the best time in the 400 IM as the final individual event, as Bennett and
Anya Bogdanova finished right behind in second and third, respectively. The final event was the 400 free relay in which a team of Hunter,
Kaitlyn Weitz, Sikes, and Bennett finished first in 3:35.01.
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The Mocs will take a couple of weeks off from competition before the IRSC Invite Nov. 21-23 in Ft. Pierce, Fla.
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