ORLANDO, Florida, July 11. KATIE Hoff, Elizabeth Beisel and Claire Donahue each won one event, while Alia Atkinson posted a top-six swim in the women’s 100 breast during the second night of finals at the Southern Zone Sectional meet at Orlando’s YMCA Aquatic Center.
Hoff, now competing for Hurricane Aquatics in Miami, cruised to the women’s 200 free title in the night’s first final with a stellar time of 1:58.29, her fastest time since 2011. Elizabeth Beisel of Bluefish came in second in 2:00.41, a four-second drop from her prelim swim. Megan Moroney of Saint Andrew’s rounded out the top three in 2:02.23. The men’s 200 free final featured a tight battle between University of Florida and Gator Swim Club teammates Andrea D’Arrigo and Dan Wallace. The two swimmers flipped .03 apart at the halfway point, with D’Arrigo holding the advantage, before Wallace came charging home to take the win, 1:49.76 to 1:49.83. Mateo De Angulo of Club Seminole finished a second and a half behind in 1:51.45.
South Florida’s Alia Atkinson, a Jamaican Olympian, dominated the women’s 100 breast with a winning time of 1:06.86, just off her personal best of 1:06.79. She’s now tied for sixth in the world with Jessica Hardy of the US, jumping up from her ninth-place ranking of 1:07.15. Katie Hoff picked up another top-three finish with a 1:08.60, a new personal best. Emily Kopas of Swim Ft. Lauderdale finished third behind Atkinson and Hoff in 1:10.71. In the men’s final, Jared Price of Club Seminole swam away with the win, stopping the clock in 1:02.41. Teammate Juan Sequera finished a second back in 1:03.44, just ahead of Blue Dolfins’ Jason Coombs.
As expected, 2012 Olympian Claire Donahue topped the women’s 100 fly field, but not by much. Donahue raced to a 1:00.17, well off her season best of 58.84 from the Charlotte Grand Prix. City of Midland’s Natalie Hinds gave Donahue all she could handle, touching second in 1:00.51. Club Seminole’s Chelsea Britt rounded out the top three in 1:01.09. Club Seminole got it’s second victory of the evening in the men’s 100 fly, this time from Pavel Sankovich. Sankovich hit the wall in 52.88, more than a second ahead of Gator Swim Club’s Marcin Cieslak (53.94). David Knight of North Palm Beach placed third in 54.19.
World champion Elizabeth Beisel threw down a solid performance in the women’s 400 IM, dominating the race with a 4:35.84. That’s only two seconds off her season best of 4:33.52 from the Santa Clara Grand Prix, which ranks fourth in the world this year. Gator Swim Club’s Jessica Theilmann, last night’s winner of the 1500 free, finished a distant second in 4:48.74, ahead of Patriot Aquatics’ Jordan Smith (4:52.38). Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez of Gator Swim Club captured the men’s distance medley title, holding off Peddie’s Connor Signorin, 4:20.37 to 4:20.80. Juan Sequera of Club Seminole earned another top three finish with a 4:24.39.
Finals of the women’s and men’s 800 free relay wrapped up the night. Gator Swim Club’s Lindsey Trematerra, Hannah Burns, Tierney Shimansky and Kahra Williams picked up the women’s title in 8:28.87, just ahead of Scarlet Aquatics’ Joanna Wu, Chantal Asselin, Julianne Torres and Morgan Pfaff (8:30.48). Johanna Gustafsdottir, Rebecca Wilde, Courtney Vander Schaaf and Nadia Farrugia gave Golden Panther Aquatics a third place finish with an 8:37.60.
Gator Swim Club also captured the men’s relay title as Diago Decarvalho, True Sweetser, Eric Geunes and Marcin Cieslak touched first in 7:42.29. Pawel Werner, Colin Rockwell, Max Bungert and Daniel Quillen gave GSC a 1-2 finish with their 7:49.05. T2 Aquatics claimed third behind strong efforts from Shawn Lemarie, Liam Hollowsky, Jacob Buckheit and Aidan Brennan (7:51.35).
Results For: Orlando Sectionals, Day Two