The University of Florida swimming and diving squads tacked
on an additional three NCAA provisional-qualifying times in Sunday’s finale of
the Bulldog Invitational, a last chance meet held on the campus of the University of Georgia over the weekend. The two-day
invite offered swimmers a final shot at qualifying and improving their
standings for the upcoming NCAA Championships.
Senior Kristen
Harris (Holmdel, N.J.) tallied her second provisional-qualifying time at
the Gabrielsen Natatorium with a time of 1:59.85 in the 200 back. During
Saturday’s competition, Harris also notched a ‘B’-cut in the 100 back. Sophomore
Rex Tullius (Port Orange, Fla.) collected a provisional time in the men’s 200 back
swim with a time of 1:46.43.
Sophomore Stephanie
Cota (Granite Bay, Calif.) also notched her second ‘B’-time of the weekend as
she touched the wall in 16:29.28 in the 1,650 freestyle. Her time stands as the
third-best this season for the Gator women, and is less than six seconds from
the automatic-qualifying time of 16:23.54.
In diving
action, sophomores Jonathan Wilcox (Bellevue, Wash.) and Aaron Leech (Newark, Del.) each qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving competition
with scores of 392.30 and 341.50, respectively, in the platform diving
competition. On the women’s side, freshman Jennifer Funch (Cincinnati, Ohio) and junior Sarah Ellerby (Oldsmar, Fla.) posted scores of 220.00 and 218.00 on the platform.
During a
final 3-meter diving event, senior Justin Schmidt (Falcon, Colo.) notched a score of 336.90, while Leech recorded a
score of 205.30.
The Zone B
Championship, which is the only way divers can qualify for the NCAA
Championship, will be held March 2-4 at Gabrielsen Natatorium. The NCAA Swimming
and Diving Championship for the women will be held March 8-10 and the men will
compete March 15-17, with both events taking place at Minnesota.
