By Jacob Stout, Staff Writer
The Saint Leo University men’s and women’s swim teams are coming off with strong starts to their home season as they played host to Florida Southern on November 5, 2010 and University of Tampa on November 6, 2010.
In the first event of the meet, the women’s team took first place in the 200 yard medley relay behind Alisha Adams, Bianca Muniz, Mindy Pierce, and anchor Maggie Walker. The four edged the second place Florida Southern team by just over one second.
Freshman Kristy Marques put up an impressive time finishing first in the 1000 yard freestyle by more than nine seconds.
There were more bright spots as senior Mindy Pierce edged Florida Southern Kelsey Duncan by less than half a second in the 100 yard butterfly to take first place.
Adams secured another nine points for the Lions as she grabbed first place in the 100 yard backstroke by .01 seconds
The strong showing by the women’s team secured 88.5 points for the team but was not enough as Florida Southern took the win with 114.5 points.
The men’s team, however, managed a better result as they took the win with a ten point victory, 106-96.
Sophomore Michael Cozzi took the honors and 18 points for the Lions in both the 200 yard and 500 yard freestyle while freshman Gabriel Keown took first place in both the 50 yard and 100 yard freestyle.
The team of Cozzi, Araque, Maddigan, and Keown finished the day with a win, and 11 more points for the Lions in the 200 yard freestyle relay.
On a tough day for Saint Leo, the Lions showed determination as Muniz added another nine points in the 200 yard breaststroke. The team of Walker, Pall, Cary, and Pierce gave the lions 11 more points in the 400 yard freestyle relay, but the Lions fell to Tampa, 117-68.
On the men’s side, it was just as tough. Keown would take first place again in the 50 yard freestyle and teammate Brian Knudsen took first in the 100 yard freestyle for nine points each.
The Lions could not secure enough points and fell to the visitors 112-87. Both team’s next meet is the Turkey Invitational held in Orlando, Florida on November 20-21.
