Swimming Battles Through Day Two at Invite
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes battled their way through the second day of competition at the Pinch A Penny All-Florida Invite Saturday at the Stephen O’Connell Center on the University of Florida campus.
Among the day’s highlights were strong performances from veterans Angela Algee and My Fridell in the 100 butterfly. Algee took second in the event with a time of 55.00, while Fridell came in fourth with a time of 56.67.
Algee also boasted one of the day’s fastest 50 fly splits as a member of the 200 medley relay team.
“The 100 fly was one of the high points of the meet for us, with two of our top swimmers in Angela and My. Both did a real good job tonight,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “Angela getting second was tremendous, and actually performed our plan and really came through on it. My swam a very well-disciplined race and put up a pretty good swim for this time of year.”
“It was an okay day. Not quite as good as we had hoped, which is somewhat expected for early in the season,” Kershaw said. “But it’s still not something we want to give in to. We need to address those things and try to improve as we go forward.”
Without the presence of veteran Cameron Davis competing in the 400 IM, Kershaw said he was excited that freshmen got a chance to perform in her place.
Among the most impressive newcomers through the first two days in Gainesville has been Roxanne Yu.
“I’m really excited about Roxanne. She’s had a really good meet, and made contributions both in the 100 fly and 100 back tonight,” he said.
Sophomores Julie Suarez and Ksenia Yuskova impressed in the morning’s preliminaries for the 200 freestyle, but the night’s finals presented its share of challenges. The Hurricanes had three swimmers in the consolation finals of the 100 breast, led by junior Julia Schippert.
While she scored important points for the Canes, Kershaw knows she is determined to swim faster at their next competition.
“I know Julia wants to go faster, and I know she’s determined to improve a lot on where she is right now,” he said. “I have no doubt she will accomplish her goals.”
Miami established the free relays as some of the team’s strongest events during the 2014-15 season.
While they didn’t show it tonight, Kershaw looks forward to seeing how they will respond in the future.
“We take a lot of pride in our free relays, it’s something we talk about and train for,” Kershaw said. “I talked to the team after and challenged them to show that more than tonight – it didn’t live up to our standards. We have a free relay to end the meet tomorrow, and I really want them to be ready to go for that and perform better than they did. I’m looking forward to seeing how they respond.”
