Staff
Molly Carlson came into the season as a wide-eyed freshman.
She left the Atlantic Coast Conference’s swimming and diving championships having opened everyone else’s eyes to her vast potential.
The Fort Frances native, now a member of the NCAA Division I Florida State Seminoles, was her sport’s dominant performer in Atlanta last week as she was selected the 2017 ACC Diver of the Meet after a double-medal performance and three top-five finishes overall.
That made her the first Seminole to win MVP honours since the platform event was added to the ACC meet in 2008.
“Molly was on fire this week,” said Seminoles’ head diving coach John Proctor said.
“She was so consistent throughout all three events and she just knows how to step up in big moments,” he noted.
“I am so proud of her.”
Florida State wound up finishing eighth out of 13 teams at the meet with 625.5 points (the North Carolina Tar Heels took top honours with 1,183.5).
Carlson’s most shining moment came in the platform event, where she rallied from sixth place after three rounds of the five-round final to win gold with a total of 284.05 points.
She shot to the front of the pack temporarily with a mark of 62.35 in Round 4, but wound up trailing Elissa Dawson of North Carolina heading into the final round.
Carlson then delivered when it counted most, nailing her favourite dive–the reverse 2.5 somersault tuck–to rake in 71.40 points.
Dawson couldn’t get the job done on her last dive and sank to third place (272.25).
Carlson also captured bronze in the 1m event with a mark of 307.65, with teammate Ayla Bonniwell being the winner (320.85).
Competing in her specialty event to kick off the championships, Carlson landed in fourth place in the 3m with a score of 335.10.
Meanwhile, Carlson’s older sister, Megan, got her taste of conference championship action while representing the NCAA Division II Lynn University Fighting Knights swim team at the Sunshine State Conference Championship in Orlando last week.
The sophomore swam the second leg for the Knights in the ‘A’ final of the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay to help her team of Sarah Nichols, Kasey Swartley, and Catalina Galea Berraud to a fourth-place finish (7:46.29) behind the first-place Nova Southeastern University Sharks (7:26.39).
Carlson and Galea Berraud also joined up with Kaitlin Armstrong and Tara Lunsford to end up seventh in the ‘B’ final and 15th overall in the women’s 400-yard I.M. relay (4:12.30).
Carlson, Galea Berraud, and Armstrong also teamed with Kayla Smith to be 15th again in the women’s 200-yard I.M. relay (1:55.65).
Individually, Carlson landed in fifth in the ‘B’ final and 13th overall in the women’s 200-yard butterfly (2:10.13).
The Knights placed fifth out of seven teams for the championships with 325.5 points as Nova Southeastern took top spot (950.5).
In related news, Fort native Donovan Taylor earned three top-10 finishes to conclude his collegiate swimming career for the NCAA Division I South Dakota State Jackrabbits at The Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis last week.
Taylor went out with his best result of the meet by taking sixth in the ‘A’ final of the 200-yard butterfly (1:53.36) behind winner Andrew Torres of the University of Denver Pioneers (1:46.02).
He also placed seventh in the 400-yard I.M. (4:06.21) and was second in the ‘B’ final and 10th overall in the 200-yard I.M. (1:53.57).
Taylor’s contributions led South Dakota State to third place out of six teams at the meet with 508.5 points.
The Pioneers easily won the overall title (1,060.5).
