The 2024 Sarasota Sharks Turkey Meet kicked off on Friday, with Canadian Olympic gold medalist Summer McIntosh turning heads with a new personal best time in a secondary event.
McIntosh won the 500 free on Friday evening in 4:35.74, about eight seconds slower than her personal best, and followed it on Saturday morning with a 2:08.86 win in the 200 breast.
That 200 breast time was her first time swimming the event in yards; she has a best of 2:27.23 in long course meters and 2:29.31 in short course meters.
McIntosh cemented her status as the world’s top female swimmer in Paris with gold medals in the 200 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM and a silver in the 400 free, so her having a fast 200 breaststroke is not a huge surprise. Swimming a 2:08, though, at this point of the season, in a local club meet, was enough to catch attention. For perspective, the top 200 breaststroker in the high school class of 2025 (which is likely where McIntosh would have been if she had taken the traditional route) is Addie Robillard with a 2:08.40.
McIntosh just-missed Sabyne Brisson’s 2023 LSC Record of 2:08.34, done when Brisson was a freshman at Georgia Tech.
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Given what McIntosh swam in the 500 free, it’s pretty easy to project that she has a 2:06 or 2:05 200 yard breaststroke in her – and that’s in what is probably her 9th or 10th best yards event.
In the 200 IM, where her breaststroke is most important, she split 37.53 en route to gold in the Olympic final. That was a ways behind the silver medalist Kate Douglass, who won the 200 breaststroke in Paris, but is comparable to the other non-breatstroke IMers like bronze medalist Kaylee McKeown (37.77) and Yi Yuting (37.37)
She is also scheduled to swim a 100 fly, 100 back, and 100 breast this weekend, which will fill out her career yards IMX score. She has no 100 yard back time, her best 100 yard breast is a 1:04.11 from this meet in 2022, and her best 100 yard fly time is a 51.10 from Winter Juniors East in December 2022.
The meet was mostly designed as a racing opportunity for Winter Juniors-and-below members of the Sharks team, along with a few other smaller local clubs, so most of the rest of Sarasota’s top swimmers did not compete. For example, McIntosh won the 500 free by more than 30 seconds and the 200 breast by almost 10.
McIntosh is scheduled to race in December at the Short Course World Championships in December, though, and this was McIntosh’s first racing since her triumphant Summer Olympic Games.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jimmie Williams led South Florida over West Georgia on Friday night with 14 points off of the bench in a 74-55 victory.
Williams went 6 of 10 from the field (1 for 4 from 3-point range) for the Bulls (2-2). Jamille Reynolds added 12 points while shooting 4 of 7 from the field and 4 for 4 from the line while he also had 11 rebounds and five blocks. Brandon Stroud had 11 points and shot 4 of 11 from the field, including 1 for 6 from 3-point range, and went 2 for 4 from the line.
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The Wolves (0-4) were led in scoring by Shelton Williams-Dryden, who finished with 20 points and eight rebounds. Kolten Griffin added 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Reynolds led his team in scoring with eight points in the first half to help put them up 37-24 at the break. South Florida extended its lead to 53-39 during the second half, fueled by a 9-0 scoring run. Williams scored a team-high 10 points in the second half.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Florida Gators can almost taste the bowl invite. Yet, with twelve quarters of football remaining in the season, the team needs to rapidly improve their pass rush. While detractors look up the fact that their 20 sacks sit in a three-way tie at 11th in the SEC, the problem goes deeper than that.
Florida tends to send the house at times, employing defensive backs into the fray, just to generate even a scintilla of pressure. Teams know what’s coming and show absolutely-zero fear. The lack of quality pass rushing up front continues to hound the Gators. With a bowl berth on the line, they need to change what doesn’t seem to work.
Shuffle The Lineup
By now, everyone knows and understands what Tyreak Sapp brings to the table, but what about the players behind him? With far fewer snaps, LJ McCray flashed upside. Why not deploy him into a defense that plays a team that does not have too much film, since he does not see the field often?
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At 6 foot 6 inches and 265 pounds, McCray possesses the arm length and strength to win on the outside, keeping clean and collapsing one side of the line. With so many athletes in the front seven, not using all of them, especially the youngest ones, does not help. Florida needs to wins now and a passive approach to pass rushing isn’t working.
Versatility and Aggression
Using an even front as a base does not hurt anyone. In fact, you can game the line of scrimmage. By using stunts and loops, offenses will struggle to quickly adjust, not knowing where the pressure begins. Zone blitzes, overloading a side, delayed blitzes all could bring a positive end result.
Basically, Florida cannot operate with the thought that if the rush doesn’t get home, the secondary gets toasted. In actuality, the secondary, to this point, performed well against the majority of their opponents. Can’t count Texas as the Longhorns slice defenses with relative ease. Florida needs to let the athletes on the team play athletically. Turn them loose upfield and see what they generate.
Overview
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The University of Florida navigated a brutal schedule with heart and a belief. Now, the pass rush needs to join the party. The Gators need to win two of their final three games. That includes a win versus either LSU or Ole Miss.
As only a 3.5-pount underdog to LSU, that doesn’t look like an impossible task. The Tigers and Rebels both love to throw the ball. As a result, a competent and consistent pass rush could shift the narrative.
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