SEC Swimming Recap: Florida Wins Again; LSU Takes Opener

Florida is off to a 3-0 start this season. Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble

Thirteen different Florida swimmers posted top times in an individual event to spark the team to their third win of the season on Saturday morning against the FAU Owls at the FAU Aquatic Center, part of the day in SEC Swimming.

Matching the theme from their two victories yesterday, the Gators got off to a quick start and outscored the Owls by a final tally of 208-90.

Kieran Smith, Marco Guarente, Will Davis and Jack Szaranek started the meet off with first-place victory in the 200 medley relay with a combined swim of 1:30.51. Smith led off with a 50 back split of 22.80 and Szaranek finished with a 50 free split of 21.06 (fastest overall).

In the second relay of the meet, Clark Beach, Khader Baqlah, W. Davis and Smith would finish with the top time of 3:01.20.

The Gators handled both distance events as Gravley and Smith picked up wins.

Finishing in second yesterday, Gravley would come back today and take the victory in the 1,000 free, his first win of his career. He finished the distance event in 9:25.80.

Leading into the meet break, the Gators would take the next three individual events, beginning with a 1:38.20 swim by Trey Freeman in the 200 free. Dakota Mahaffey (100 back) and Dillon Hillis (100 breast) would follow with their first wins of the season.

Eric Friese, coming off his first career win yesterday in the season opener, paced the 50 free with a time of 20.56, followed by Baqlah in second (20.75) and Isaac Davis (21.11) in third.

Later, Friese would go on to win the 100 fly, posting the same result in the Gators’ season opener the day before.

Grant Sanders, Freeman and Mahaffey all finished at the top of the 200 back event within three seconds of each other.

Guarente led the group of Gators in the 200 breast with a swim of 2:02.49.

In the last individual event of the meet, Baqlah, Hillis and Robert Finke posted the top-three times, led by Baqlah with an effort of 1:50.70.

Alex Farrow led the way on the boards for the Gators in both the 1 and 3-meter. Farrow barely snuck out a victory in the 3-meter, winning by less than three points. In the 1-meter, Nick Lydon would post a score of 265.80, good for a runner-up bid behind Farrow.

Quotable: Coach Anthony Nesty — “Our team came out this morning and continued the same type of swimming we put together yesterday. The men were ready to go from the start. Now we can head back to Gainesville and work on some things before our next meet against Minnesota on Oct. 11.”

SWIMMING WORLD’S SEC SWIMMING COVERAGE

SEC SWIMMING: GATORS WIN OPENERS

Florida women win

The Gators notched their third win of the week on Saturday morning over the Florida Atlantic Owls to remain undefeated early in the 2019-20 season.

The Gators outscored the hosting Owls by a final score of 220.5-79.5.

Savanna Faulconer, Nikki Miller, Vanessa Pearl and Ashley McCool all posted two victories to lead the way for Florida.

Faulconer crushed the 1,000 free with an effort of 10:10.49, winning her first event of the season almost 14 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Allison Piccirillo. Faulconer’s second win would come later in the 200 breast in a time of 2:21.33.

Miller won the first pair of events this year in the 200 and 500 free. She registered a swim of 1:49.79 in the 200 and followed that up with the top time of 4:55.71 in the 500.

Pearl added wins five and six of the SEC swimming season as she was victorious in the 200 fly and 200 back.

In the fly, Taylor Ault finished in second just over a second behind her and Kelly Fertel placed second in the 200 back behind Pearl.

On the board, Ashley McCool continued her success, posting winning tallies of 299.70 on the 1-meter and 314.85 on the 3-meter.

The Gators again found success in their relays. Emma Ball, Chade Nersicio, Kathleen Golding and Gabby Hillis continued the Gators momentum in relays to begin the year, hitting the wall in a combined swim of 1:11.54.

The relay success continued into the last event of the meet as Pearl, Sherridon Dressel, Celi Guzman and Tori Bindi hit a combined time of 3:23.97.

Dressel led the first group with a second split of 49.25 and Bates anchored second-place finishers with a time of 50.12.

Freshmen Talia Bates and Golding continued their strong start for the Gators. Bates added her third and fourth wins of the season in the 100 back with a time of 56.64 and the 100 free in 50.50. Golding posted a victory in the 200 IM (2:02.37) and finished just .33 seconds behind Bates in the 100 free to finish second.

The Gators continued to post fast sprinting numbers. Fertel won the 100 breast, just missing her personal-best by .58, and Dressel continued her fast swimming, posting the top time in the 50 free (22.89).

Ball also fared well in sprints, winning the 100 fly in 56.61 and was just behind Dressel in the 50 free, earning a runner-up finish in 23.30.

Quotable: Coach Jeff Poppell: “I thought our women did a great job competing outdoors over three consecutive days in South Florida. It was very apparent today that the heat starting taking its toll on us a little bit as we looked a little more fatigued than the previous two days. Regardless, everyone competed hard and these meets provided us with an excellent opportunity to see where our athletes are at this stage of the season.”

SEC Swimming: LSU beats Tulane

Five different Lady Tigers brought home victories on Saturday at the LSU Natatorium as the LSU Women’s Swimming and Diving Team defeated Tulane by a final score of 192-105 in SEC Swimming action.

Jolee Liles won the 200-Yard Butterfly with a time of 2:03.41. Olivia Taylor touched the wall first in the 50-Yard Freestyle with a time of 23.54 and Helen Grossman won the 100-Yard Butterfly after swimming a 54.95.

Two Lady Tigers won multiple events. Junior, Cassie Kalisz claimed the top spot in both the 100 and 200-Yard Backstroke. She touched the wall in 55.23 in the 100-Yard and 1:58.92 in the 200-Yard.

Freshman Summer Stanfield finished the meet with three victories. She touched the wall in 51.99 to win the 100-Yard Freestyle, 1:51.42 to win the 200-Yard Freestyle, and 2:02.53 in the 200-Yard IM.

In the 400-Yard Medley Relay, the team of Kalisz, Olivia Paskulin, Grossman, and Katarina Milutinovich touched the wall in 3:44.38 to win.

“We had a really great week of training so I knew we had put the work in leading up to this meet,” said LSU coach Dave Geyer. “The women stepped up today. We took a huge step starting with the relay and just went from there.”

On the 1-Meter Springboard, Aimee Wilson took the top spot after diving to a score of 319.88.

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