Emerald Coast Times

After four days of competition at the Spartan Invitational, the Argonauts finished in second place with a total of 1031 points. The Argonauts put on quite a show with 34 NCAA B cuts achieved and two broken school records. This is the third straight year the Argos have competed in the Spartan Invitational under head coach Phil Kraus.

On the first day of competition, freshman Shannah Dillman made her presence known with a personal best and second place finish in the 200 IM with a time of 2:03.58. The native from Midlothian, Va., broke the freshman record and earned a NCAA B cut. Freshman Sophia Kendzior came in third in the 1000 free in 10:12.19. Her teammate Yael Danieli finished fourth with a time of 10:18.29. Sophomore Aimee Patterson earned a personal best and touched fourth in the 50 free with 23.59. In the last event of the night, UWF came in third in the 200 medley relay with swimmers Nina Imboden, Stefanie Markwardt, Emily O'Connell, and Patterson achieving a time of 1:43.10. The squad cut 2.14 seconds off their time to earn a personal best.

On Saturday, West Florida placed two in the top three in the 200 free relay with Markwardt, Patterson, Kathryn Mipro, and Brooke Dorr coming in second (1:33.80). The group of Sydney Hartis, O'Connell, Morgan Despres, and Kendzior earned a third place finish with 1:35.14. O'Connell came in fourth in the 100 fly (55.15) followed by Markwardt who finished fifth in 55.53.

Standout Dillman finished first in the 400 IM with 4:22.24. She set a new school record in this event; the record has been held by Ester Rizzetto since 2021. Her teammate Danieli touched the wall in 4:23.55 to earn second. In the second last event of the night, Imboden finished second and achieved a personal best in the 200 free with 1:50.83. To end day two, UWF placed third in the 400 medley relay (3:46.45) compiled of Imboden, Markwardt, O'Connell, and Patterson.

Newcomer Kendzior kicked off the third day with a second place finish and time of 4:56.81. Freshman Tori Johnston finished shortly after in 5:00.72. Imboden once again earned a second in the 100 back (55.69). Markwardt and Simila had impressive performances in the 100 breast as Markwardt finished third (1:03.41) with Simila in fourth (1:03.50).

In the last day of competition, Imboden made quite a splash as she touched the wall in second with 1:59.07 and setting a new school record in the 200 back. This record has not been broken since 2016 by Rebecca Halfast. Simila placed first in the 200 breast and dropped 1.73 seconds off her time. Her teammate Markwardt came in fifth in 2:19.38. Graduate Danieli won the 1650 free event with a time of 17:06.11. In the 400 free relay, UWF made a second place finish with Markwardt, Imboden, Patterson, and Kendzior achieving a time of 3:26.36. At the conclusion of this invitational, it breaks program history with most B cut times earned in one meet. 

"It was a great meet from start to finish, said Kraus. "Every meet has some ups and downs, but our peaks were amazing and our valleys were almost non-existent. We had 14 swimmers achieve 32 individual NCAA B cuts and earned two NCAA B cuts in relays."  

TEAM SCORES
Tampa- 1546 points
West Florida- 1031 points
Indian River State- 610 points
Saint Leo- 317 points
Lenoir Rhyne- 170 points
Emory & Henry- 46 points

West Florida will be back in the pool for their first meet of 2023 at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Fla. on Jan. 3.

Original source can be found here.