Nelson Sets School Record in Loss

Wednesday, November 11

UNF Aquatic Center

2 p.m.

University of North Florida

116.5

181.5

Florida Gulf Coast

11/11/2009 5:44:01 PM | Women's Swimming

Lyn Ann Nelson set a school record in the 1,000 free, but UNF fell 181.5-116.5 to FGCU

By: UNF Athletics

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida swimming and diving team put forth a valiant effort, but it was not enough as they fell to Florida Gulf Coast, 181.5-116.5, on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at the UNF Aquatic Center. The highlight of the meet for the Ospreys was junior Lyn Ann Nelson setting the school record in the 1,000-yard freestyle.

Nelson recorded a time of 10:20.33 in the 1,000 free to set the UNF school record. The time marks the fifth time the junior has broken the record since joining the swim team. Nelson first set the record as a freshman with a time of 10:30.88, against New Orleans on Dec. 1, 2007. She proceeded to break the record three consecutive weeks as a sophomore with a best time of 10:23.40 against Georgia Southern on Jan. 24, 2009.

“Leah Daniel is a great competitor,” Nelson stated after the meet. “She and I swam against each other multiple times throughout the year and this won't be the last time for sure. I knew in my head and I had a little Beth [Harrell] on my shoulder saying 'pound the walls. Get in and out. Control your breathing. Stay relaxed. Stay calm and swim your own race.' Breaking a record is always something good to do because we all train to do best times. We all train to swim great races. Today, I kind of did it for my roommate, Dominique Barbosa, who used to play basketball here at UNF because yesterday was her birthday.”

In addition to breaking a school record in the 1,000 free, Nelson also won the 100 freestyle and swam the anchor leg of the 200 freestyle relay that claimed first place. She won the 100 free with a time of 54.04, nearly a half a second faster than second place (54.44). In the 200 freestyle relay, Nelson teamed with senior Emily Shaw, freshman Kelsey Bobzien and junior Kalia Martin for the victory. The relay was neck and neck with FGCU's “A” team with the two relay teams trading first place. Nelson out-touched the Eagles' Shannon Blizzard to give the Ospreys a time of 1:39.75, just 0.17 seconds ahead of Florida Gulf Coast. Nelson finished second in the 500 free to Daniels with a time of 5:07.92, with junior Caroline Larsson (5:08.56) taking third in the event.

Freshman Sara Evans had an impressive performance in the 200 breaststroke. She set a season best in the event with a 2:26.37 to win the event. Sophomore Taylor Crosby joined Evans in the top three, taking third place in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:27.34. Evans also had a strong showing in the 200 individual medley, taking second place with a time of 2:11.99. In the 200 IM, she finished just ahead of sophomore Amanda Anderson (2:12.97) and junior Caroline Larsson (2:13.52) who finished third and fourth, respectively.

Shaw finished second in the 100 backstroke, posting a time of 1:00.92. She finished just ahead of Anderson (1:01.09) and sophomore Gala Poon (1:03.66), who finished third and fifth, respectively.

Taylor Crosby claimed second place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:07.97, just a second back of first place. Evans finished the event in fourth place (1:08.86), while freshman Katie England (1:08.93) rounded out the top five.

Bobzien took second place in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:09.39, with Anderson finishing the race with a time of 2:09.72 for third place.

True freshman Julia Moomaw took second place in both diving events. She scored a 214.20 in the 1-meter boards, while recoding a score of 237.08 in the 3-meter event.

“The swimmers did a great job stepping up and racing a tough team,” head coach Beth Harrell said after the meet. “The meet was closer than the score. Watching Lyn Ann break the school record was a great thing for this time of the year. She swam well. We had a couple of really good swims out of her. I think the whole team stepped up and did a good job. There are one or two places I thought we could have done a little better, but in general, everybody went out there and did a good job. They raced with pride and confidence.”

“I think this meet will help us a lot. We start back with UNC-Wilmington when we get back which is another great team. Then we have a really good tri-meet with some teams in our conference that finished ahead of us last season in the conference meet. I think they are ready for that. I think they are absolutely ready to step up and compete with those teams. Confidence is good. Feelings are good. Training is on. There is going to be nothing but improvement between now and our next meet after the first of the year.”

North Florida will spend time training for the second half of the season. The next meet for the Ospreys is slated for Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010, as UNF welcomes UNC-Wilmington to the UNF Aquatic Center for a meet scheduled for 11 a.m.