OCALA, Fla. — Rollins Swimming delivered a record-breaking night on Thursday at the Sunshine State Conference Championships, highlighted by two school records in the 200 individual medley and an NCAA B-cut performance to lead the Tars through the first full day of finals competition.
Senior
William Slowey headlined the night with a dominant swim in the men's 200 IM, capturing the conference title with a school-record time of 1:45.14, breaking his own previous mark while securing an NCAA B-cut qualifying standard. Slowey separated himself in the freestyle leg to touch first and earn 20 points for Rollins.
On the women's side,
Alexa Kwarcinski continued her strong season with a program record of her own in the 200 IM, finishing sixth in 2:04.02 to reset the Rollins standard and add valuable points.
Rollins also saw scoring swims in the same event from
Taiylor Tegler, who posted a 2:05.37 finish to claim 11th overall.
Distance events opened the evening, where senior
Elliot Fox led the women with a 16th-place finish in the 1000 freestyle, touching in 10:41.64 to score for the Tars. Additional swims from
Katie Canty (10:47.41) and
Leah Fonnotto (11:07.64) added depth for Rollins in the event.
On the men's side,
Seth Basinger paced the Tars with a 12th-place finish in the 1000 free, stopping the clock at 9:25.80, while
Carter Kegle followed closely in 15th with a time of 9:29.81.
In the 200 medley relays, Rollins saw a sixth-place finish in the A Final from the quartet of
Holly Hirsch, Tegler,
Melanie Angelov, and
Gardner Viney (1:44.97).
Avery Bannerton, Kwarcinski,
Julianne Armstrong, and
Dylan Beeson earned a few more points for the Tars as well, finishing 14th in 1:46.93.
On the men's side, Rollins earned another podium finish as
Valentino Montegrande, Slowey,
Luke Dinges, and
Sebastian Lopez touched in 1:28.12 for a third-place finish. The team of Nicholas Bonta,
Corbin Songer,
Cole Conlan, and Ricky Riley also competed in the event, finishing 13th overall in a time of 1:32.14.
The Tars will return to the pool Friday morning for preliminary heats before another full slate of finals, the morning starts at 10 a.m. with the women's 100 fly.
