In a promising start, the University of Tampa men’s and women’s swimming teams opened their respective seasons with victories over Florida Southern on Oct. 10.
The men won by a score of 172-82 while the women bested the Moccasins by a 158-101 margin.
The men’s team won a total of nine races, taking an early lead and never looking back.
The Spartans dominated early as they began the season with the 200 Medley Relay.
The team consisted of Andrew Johnson, Kevin Kelley, John Proctor and Felipe Manzo. The relay finished in first place with a time of 1:38.51.
Tyler Furrer, Chris O’Linger, Paul Patterson, Paul LaPorta and Hunter Lineback were also victorious in at least one event.
Furrer took the 200 Free in 1:46.91, while O’Linger won both the 500 (4:52.06) and 1,000 Free (10:12.14).
Patterson captured the 200 Breast in 2:20.87. LaPorta won the 100 Fly with a time of 52.76 seconds, while Lineback’s 1:59.75 was good enough to earn a first place win in the 200 IM.
Keeping pace with the men, the women’s team was also victorious in nine races.
Much like the men, the women took the first event, also the 200 Medley Relay. The team of Ellie Eshleman, Allison Vetter, Lindsay Calimer and Stephanie Benham finished with a time of 1:50.59.
Amy O’Brien and Jillian Palmer won races for the women as well, each capturing two events.
O’Brien won the 50 Free and 100 Free races with times of 24.91 and 55.56, respectively.
Palmer took the 200 Free (1:57.65) and 200 IM (2:14.25). Eshleman and Calimer also won two individual races each.
UT’s opening wins put the teams on the right track to improvement. The Spartans finished last season in eighth place on the men’s side while the women finished 12th.
This year they both hope to finish higher.
“Our team goal is to have a strong finish at this year’s NCAA Championships,” senior Frank Kuchta said of both the men’s and women’s teams. “I think both teams would like to be close to the top four.”
On a personal level, both Kuchta and Branham, also a senior, said they want to finish their careers as All-Americans.
“I’m not holding anything back,” Kuchta said of his efforts this season.
UT boasts its largest senior class of NCAA qualifiers in history: Blaine Bess, Roman Dagesh, Tyler Furrer, Daniel Hernandez, Frank Kuchta, Paul LaPorta and Patrick Murray.
With this experience on the roster, head coach Ed Brennan said his team is more focused on qualifying for NCAA nationals than on any particular meet. He also said not to count out the squad’s younger talent.
“With 10 freshmen any one of them could be a star come March,” Brennan said.
March is the most important time of the year for the teams: the NCAA Championship.
Branham said the team is looking ahead to the event and will be all season long.
Junior Michael Verdi concurred, specifically citing the spirit freestyle program as a strong contender in March.
Before Nationals, however, there are still meets to be swam.
UT returns to action Oct. 30 against Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida Atlantic University in Fort Myers at 6 p.m.