The St. Thomas University Men's Swimming team competed at the 7th Annual Florida Tech Panther Invitational from November 18 - 20, 2022 at the Panther Aquatics Center. The Bobcats were the lone NAIA program at the invitational with NCAA DII powerhouse Florida Southern, Rollins College and host Florida Tech.
Meet Recap
The Bobcat men won in dramatic fashion, scoring a total of 1,191 points behind four gold, nine silver and six bronze medals. Florida Southern finished second (1,057), followed by Florida Tech (905) and Rollins (656).
St. Thomas - 1,191 points
Florida Southern - 1,057 points
Florida Tech - 905 points
Rollins - 656 points
This was a historic meet for the Bobcat men, with a total of 154 lifetime best swims and 14 men's team records broken in the process. This marks the first major win over multiple NCAA DII opponents in program history. Florida Southern is currently ranked 1st in the Sunshine State Conference and 6th overall in United States for NCAA Division II.
The Bobcats also had several swimmers punch their tickets to Georgia for the 2023 NAIA Swimming & Diving National Championship, with 5 'A' cuts from Miguel Arroyo (200 Butterfly), Daniel Laureyssens (200 Freestyle), Alex Marrero (100 Back) and Inigo Marina (100/200 Breaststroke). With 4 swimmers already earning an invite, the men's team is also eligible to swim all 5 relays.
NAIA Top Times
The Bobcat men now hold the #1 time in United States in the 50/100 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, 200 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke, 200 Breaststroke, 100 Butterfly, 200 Butterfly, and all relays (200/400 Freestyle Relay, 200/400 Medley Relay and 800 Freestyle Relay).
The Bobcat men are now ranked no. 1 in the United States on SwimCloud, the swimming database that the NAIA now uses in place of official polls.
Coach's Corner
Coach Caesar Asadi on the team's performance this past weekend:
"Hard work pays off. It's that simple. Before the meet, I asked our swimmers to reflect back on all the early AM swims and late PM lifts. All the study table hours, all the sacrifices we as a program have made this season. We owed it to ourselves to perform this weekend.
Our mid-season taper phrase was 'The Best Want It More.' While we have a long road ahead of us going into December winter break training and into championship season in the Spring - I believe it's safe to say our results speak for themselves. We're just getting started."
Up Next
The Bobcats next meet will be on December 9 as they host Union College (NY) at Miami-Dade North Aquatics Center at 2 p.m.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up