FULL RESULTS
TEAM RESULTS
 
FT. MYERS, Fla. – Saturday, November 5, 2016, will live in the University of West Florida swimming record books for quite a while, following senior Theresa Michalak's record-breaking performance in the 100 Breast in Ft. Myers. The German's 1:00.62 is an all-time best at the Division II level of the event, and it bests her national championship-winning time in the same event by more than a half-second.
 
Michalak is the first national record-holder in UWF swimming and diving history, and she became the second national champion in program history just a day after Monica Amaral won the 1-meter diving event at the NCAA Championships in March. Michalak's time passed that of Kayla Scott from Wayne State, who set the record at 1:00.66 at the NCAA Championships in 2014.
 
"We're very proud of Theresa," head coach Andrew Hancock said. "She's been a wonderful addition to our team, both in and out of the water, since she joined us. Her swim was representative of who she is: she works incredibly hard, and we're proud to see her get some recognition."
 
Her performance in the 100 Breast marked the fourth A-cut time that she recorded in a quad meet against Florida State, Florida Gulf Coast and No. 25 Florida Southern over the weekend. On Friday, she set school records and posted automatic qualifying times in the 50 Free and 100 Free, and she started the day with a 1:59.53 in the 200 IM, which is also an automatic qualifying time. She defeated all competitors in the pool in the 50 Free, 100 Breast and 200 IM, and her time in the 100 Free was the leadoff leg of UWF's 400 Free Relay performance on Friday evening.
 
Michalak, however, was not the only standout on Saturday morning.
 
Another school record was broken by the 400 Medley Relay team of Nicole Machado, Michalak, Rebecca Halfast and Danica Burnett, who came in at 3:49.52. Madeline Pitt, fresh off two B-cut times in the 500 Free and 400 IM on Friday, went 10:19.42 in the 1000 Free to pick up her third B-cut of the weekend, and the team had a B-cut time in the 200 Free relay, finishing in 1:36.27. The divers also kept their momentum from Friday going, as Monica Amaral claimed third-place in the 3-meter event and every UWF diver outscored at least two divers from either Florida Gulf Coast or Florida State.
 
"Obviously we had a great day," Hancock said. "It was great to see some freshman who really stepped up and had some good swims today, with Brooke Ferrara in the 100 Back, Tabitha Read-Cayton in the 100 Fly. There are a lot of things we can be excited about."
 
Read-Cayton clocked the fifth-fastest 100 Fly in school history, going the distance in 57.65, and she had a 23.53 in the second leg of the 200 Free Relay, which was a team-best in the event. While that time does not count in the UWF record books, a 23.53 in the 50 Free would rank as the second-fastest time in program history.
 
Ferrara put together a 58.21 in the 100 Back, and she nearly matched Read-Cayton in her leg of the 200 Free Relay, going in at 23.70.
 
"We thought we would have a better day today, and that certainly proved to be the case," Hancock said. "Our girls did a great job, they're racing, they're aggressive and they're tired, but they aren't backing down against major opponents. We're very proud of what they've done and the adjustments they made during the meet and in between races."
 
The diving team will host Georgia Southern in a diving-only event on Saturday, November 12, in the UWF Aquatic Center, while the swimmers will be back action on November 18, 19 and 20 at the Panther Invitational in Melbourne, Florida.