Swimming Finishes Day 2 at All-Florida Invite
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The University of Miami women’s swimming team completed its second day of action at the All-Florida Invite hosted by Nova Southeastern Saturday.
Miami finished the second day in third place with 464 points.
“It was a decent day considering how early we are in our schedule,” head coach Andy Kershaw said. “We’re certainly getting better each day, and that’s to be expected. We’re getting back into racing mode.”
After Miami’s entry in the 200 medley relay, comprised of seniors Christina Leander, Julia Schippert and Angela Algee and freshman Iliana Oikonomou, posted a fourth-place time 1:48.65, the Hurricanes had two swimmers qualify for the night’s “A” final of the 400 IM: sophomore Katie Sickinger and senior Cameron Davis.
Sickinger finished in seventh with a time of 4:39.73, while Davis touched the wall in an eighth-place time of 4:40.26.
Freshman Claire McGinnis was the top finisher in the “B” final of the same event with a time of 4:41.71.
Algee, who qualified at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships as a junior and was a qualifier for the U.S. Olympic trials this past summer, earned a fourth-place finish in the 100 fly (56.50).
Oikonomou (57.95) and sophomore Roxanne Yu (59.61) took the top two finishes in the “B” final.
Casarin qualified for the “A” final of the 200 free with a time of 1:55.09 in the morning preliminaries, and bested that performance with a time of 1:53.25 to finish third in the finals. Once again, Miami had top performers in the “B” final – junior Julie Suarez took first (1:54.55) and McGinnis took second (1:56.54).
“McGinnis has been coming up big for us,” Kershaw said. “She’s been earning us some points with some good swims.”
Both Casarin (1:07.40) and Schippert (1:07.97) qualified for the “A” final of the 100 breaststroke, and freshman Chantal Noe (1:07.23) was the top finisher in the “B” final.
“The highlight tonight was Ianni [Casarin],” Kershaw said. “She had a good night. She finished third in the 200 free and came back with a great time in the 100 breaststroke. Great to see her do that – she’s an example of what we’ve been talking about all week: executing the plan and the strategy for these races.”
Miami’s top point-getters in backstroke events from a year ago – Leander and Yu – both placed in the top four Saturday in the 100 back.
Oikonomou, Algee, Suarez and Casarin finishe the night with a fourth-place time of 7:40.06 in the 800 free relay.
