W. Swimming

50-Yard Free Stylers Help Lift Mocs to Second

Rae-Lynn Sheffield helped the Mocs into second place.

SAVANNAH, GA - With four of the top five finishers in the 50-yard freestyle, led by record-setting junior Cara Potter, and two strong performances by Liz Broadley, Florida Southern moved into second place after day two of the Savannah College of Art & Design Invitational.

The Moccasins started Friday in fourth place in the team standings, but moved ahead of host Savannah A&D and Catawba thanks in large part to their showing in the 50-yard freestyle. Potter was the leader of that group, winning the race in a time of 24.23 to break her own school record set in Florida Southern's previous meet against Daytona State and Indian River CC. She finished a little more than half a second ahead of Darton's Amanda Burnette, and one second ahead of Moccasin teammate Rae-Lynn Sheffield, who was third.

Amanda McIntyre place fourth (24.89 seconds) and Kelly Ruf was fifth (25.07). Combined with Potter and Sheffield, they gave Florida Southern 65 points in the meet, and helped the Mocs take a 41-point lead over third-place Savannah A&D.

Most of the same swimmers who dominated the 50-yard freestyle were also part of two relay teams that provided Florida Southern with another 72 points. Potter, McIntyre, Ruf and Sheffield gave the Mocs a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a school-record time of 1:38.09. Later, the 400-yard medley relay team took third place in that event, with McIntyre swimming the first leg, followed by Sheffield, Broadley and Potter. Their time of 4:04.91 shattered the previous school record by nearly eight seconds, which had stood since November of 2005.

Individually, Broadley was third in the 200-yard freestyle and second in the 100-yard butterfly. That helped get Florida Southern another 33 points, with Broadley only a quarter of a second behind Catawba's Laurenn Singleton in the butterfly.

Wingate continues to lead the meet, totaling 507 points through the first two days. Florida Southern has 358 points, followed by Savannah A&D with 317, and Catawba with 256. Rollins, the only other SSC team competing, is seventh in the 11-team meet, which concludes on Saturday.