Florida Splits With Minnesota: Wins Women’s Meet (165-127), Loses Men’s Meet (161-139)

GAINESVILLE, Florida, October 27. IN the first-ever meeting between the Florida and Minnesota swimming and diving teams, the fifth-ranked Gator women (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) used 11 event wins to beat the No. 16 Golden Gophers, 165-127, on Thursday at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The No. 3 Florida men (2-2, 1-1 SEC) dropped a 161-139 decision to 10th-ranked Minnesota despite a late rally.

"The women's team came out very strong today, and I was impressed with the way they swam after such an emotionally-charged meet against Minnesota," Florida head coach Gregg Troy said. "It's tough going back-to-back meets like this, but I think the guys also did really well. I'm really happy with how we're performing right now since we're training hard, and I think we're in good shape from the standpoint of where we want to be at the end of the season."

The UF women jumped to an early lead, as their two relay teams claimed first and second in the 200 MR. The quartet of junior Caroline Drab (Lund, Sweden), sophomore Lauren Winter (Dalkeith, Australia), and freshmen Gemma Spofforth (West Sussex, England) and Elizabeth Kemp (Potomac, Md.) took first with a time of 1:44.33, while the Gators' B team clocked in at 1:44.42 to earn runner-up honors.

Junior Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) and sophomore Kelsey Smith (Cary, N.C.) furthered the team's quick start by sweeping the top-two spots in the 1,000 free with career-best times of 9:49.37 and 10:02.31, respectively. Junior Natalie Pike (Wellington, Fla.) tallied Florida's first NCAA provisional qualifying time of the day with a first-place finish in the 200 free (1:49.25), and junior Samantha Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.) followed with the Gators' fourth-straight win in the 100 back (56.34).

The Gators finished 1-2-3 in the 200 fly, with sophomore Stephanie Cota (Granite Bay, Calif.) and senior Ashley Carusone (High Springs, Fla.) taking first and second place, respectively, with NCAA provisional times of 2:00.67 and 2:02.39. Kemp notched the first individual win of her collegiate career in the 50 free, clocking in at 23.48. Burckle and Vanderbilt each followed with their second individual wins of the meet, with Burckle taking the 100 free (50.91) and Vanderbilt capturing the 200 back (2:02.54). Junior Amanda Hartley (Tallahassee, Fla.) posted the squad's first win of the season in the 200 breast, touching the wall in 2:22.11.

In the diving portion of the meet, sophomore Whitney Stern (Safety Harbor, Fla.) collected wins in both events. Her first-place score of 288.90 on the 3M board and her 256.72 in the 1M dive were both good for NCAA Zone qualifying marks.

"Caroline Burckle has been outstanding this year, and she's further along than we expected her to be at this point in the season," Troy said. "As a coaching staff, we're pleased with almost everything we've been seeing."

Down by as many as 43 points during the afternoon, the Gators cut the lead to 27 after sophomore Jonathan Wilcox (Bellevue, Wash.) won the 3M dive with an NCAA Zone qualifying score of 366.31. UF continued their comeback in 400 individual medley, sweeping the top-four spots to outscore the Gophers 16-3 in the event. Sophomore Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) took first with a time of 3:57.49 and freshman Clark Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) clocked in at 3:58.81 to place second, while juniors Dustin McLarty (DeLand, Fla.) and Kevin Nead (Ithaca, N.Y.) finished third and fourth with times of 3:59.42 and 4:00.55, respectively.

Minnesota, however, bounced back in the 400 FR, taking the top two spots to secure the win. The team of senior Mario Delac, junior Michael Woodson, sophomore Evan Bernier and senior Igor Cerensek placed first with a time of 2:59.53.

Freshman Shaune Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) picked up individual wins for Florida in the 500 free (4:31.83) and 200 fly (1:46.93) on the day, and his time in the 200 fly earned him the NCAA provisional qualifying mark of his collegiate career. Fraser now has two wins this season in the 200 fly, and has won at least one race in each meet the Gators have swum.

"Fraser just seems to go to the blocks whenever you need him," Troy said. "He has shown a lot of commitment to what he's doing, and he's very versatile. No matter where you put him, you get an honest effort every time."

McLarty captured his first win of the season in the 1,000 free, notching a career-best time of 9:17.71. Ally finished first in the 100 fly (49.29) to post a two-victory day for Florida, and freshman Omar Pinzon (Bogota, Colombia) earned both his second win and NCAA provisional cut in the 200 back in the last two days after turning in a time of 1:46.89 to best Minnesota junior David Plummer by .08. Burckle, who also had a strong day for the Gators, won the 200 breast with a time of 2:02.80.

Wilcox led the meet off for UF with a victory on the 1M board, tallying a score of 327.00 that was good for another NCAA Zone qualifying mark. The 2006 All-American had a good two days for the Gators, winning both boards in each meet and picking up four NCAA Zone standards.

"We started out a little slow, but we swam a great second half of the meet," Troy said. "We just ran out of bodies when we got to the last relay. It's still only October, and we're trying to lay the groundwork to have a really good spring. Minnesota and Georgia are two of the best teams in the country, and we did pretty well against them."

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