The Nova Southeastern women and Tampa men won the team titles at the 2020 Sunshine State Conference in Clearwater, Florida.
Team Scores (Women)
- Nova Southeastern, 955
- Tampa, 930.5
- Rollins, 438.5
- Lynn, 391
- Florida Southern, 315
- Saint Leo, 298
- Florida Tech, 268
Nova junior Emma Sundstedt won three total events for the Sharks at the Sunshine State Conference Championships, winning the 1650 on the final night of the meet with a 16:37.64. She also won the 1000 (9:54.10) and 500 (4:51.50), putting herself second and fourth nationally respectively in both events. Her 1650 performance put her at third in Division II with three weeks to go until NCAAs.
Sundstedt was also a part of a thrilling finish in the 200 free, where she nearly ran down Tampa’s Hana van Loock (1:49.50), who beat her by 0.02. Those two now sit second and third nationally in that race as Van Loock also won the 100 freestyle (50.12) to put herself fifth nationally.
Nova Southeastern’s Cassie Wright also provided a spark for the Sharks as she swam the fastest time in Division II with a 53.49 to break the conference record. She actually went faster in the 400 medley relay, splitting a 53.14 on the lead-off leg to give Nova the win at 3:39.58, which put them second in Division II. Wright also won the 200 backstroke on Sunday with a 1:58.06.
Tampa’s Julia Augustsson won the 200 breast final at 2:14.55, running down Nova’s Caily Friel (2:14.67) in the process.
Tampa won the 400 free relay to close the meet with a 3:23.75 with Maureen Moore (52.56), Molly O’Hara (51.57), Elizaveta Bazarova (50.16) and Van Loock (49.46).
Sunshine State Conference Team Scores (Men)
- Tampa, 952
- Nova Southeastern, 809
- Florida Southern, 548
- Saint Leo, 429
- Rollins, 326.5
- Florida Tech, 307.5
- Lynn, 220
Tampa senior Brett Saunders won the 200 backstroke on the final night of competition at the Sunshine State Conference Championships with a 1:43.51 as he put himself second in Division II in that event. Saunders was the big performer on the weekend for the Spartans, winning both the 200 (1:45.54) and 400 IM (3:46.40) as he swam the number one time in the country in both events.
Tampa junior Jared Fitzgerald also took a win on Sunday night as he won the 100 freestyle at 43.93, and anchored Tampa’s winning 400 freestyle relay team at 43.09. Fitzgerald was joined by Mikael Haugen (45.24), Yannick Smith (44.01) and Aaron James (44.69) to win the relay at 2:57.03. Fitzgerald also won the 200 freestyle at 1:37.05 and was on the other two winning freestyle relays.
Nova Southeastern also got a win on Sunday night from junior Samuel Brettmann in the 200 breast (1:58.50) while Lynn’s Mohamed Masmoudi won the 1650 at 15:31.85.
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