SEC Weekly Recap: Florida Sweeps Tennessee; Freriks Shatters Kentucky Record

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The No. 6 ranked Gators were able to send the senior class out as winners as the men defeated the No. 9 Tennessee, 190-108.

Senior Brennan Balogh finished sixth in the 200 Back. He posted a seventh-place finish in the 100 Back.

Grady Heath collected a third-place finish in the 200 Free in his first event on Senior Day. He added a sixth-place swim in the 100 Free.

Alex Lebed recorded a third-place finish in the 200 IM. He added a fourth-place mark in the 200 Fly.

Bayley Main placed second in the 100 Back before he finished in sixth in the 100 Fly.

Christoph Margotti tied for sixth in the 50 Free and added a seventh-place swim in the 100 Free.

Ross Palazzo finished the 200 Breast in seventh.

Stanley Wu placed third in the 100 Breast and followed it with a fourth-place mark in the 200 Breast.

Khader Baqlah won the 200 free and Maxime Rooney won the 100 free.

The Tennessee men were led by the diving duo of Matthew Wade and Will Hallam, after they recorded a 1-2 finish in the 3-meter springboard. Wade logged his personal season-best score in the 3-meter with a 391.95. Hallam (344.48) and Wade (338.10) finished the sweep for the Vols with a 1-2 placement in the 1-meter on Saturday, with Hallam’s score being a career-high.

Marc Hinawi tallied a win in the 200 fly (1:46.98).

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Florida women beat Volunteers

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 8 ranked Florida women the seniors a 173-127 victory against the No. 13 Volunteers.

Kahra Williams clocked a second-place finish in the women’s 1,000 Free. Her time of 9:52.93 is a new personal best.

Hannah Burns placed third in the 200 Breast, as the Gators swept the event. She added another third-place swim in the 200 IM. She collected a fifth-place swim in the 200 Fly.

Georgia Marris posted a fourth-place finish in the 200 Fly. She finished in fifth in the 100 Fly.

Teya Syskakis closed out her career at home with a fourth-place score of 297.30 on the 3-meter and a 269.63 on the 1-meter.

Sydney Sell placed second in the 100 Back. She added a third-place finish in the 200 Back.

Vanessa Pearl tied the second-fastest time in program history with a time of 59.94 in the 100 Breast, which is the 18th-best time in the NCAA this season. Pearl added another winning performance in the 200 Breast, as she completed the sweep in the Breaststroke events. She placed second in the 200 IM.

Sherridon Dressel won the 100 Back and finished second in the 100 Free.

Elizabeth Perez came up big with a 336.00 to win the 3-meter competition. Brooke Madden added a second-place score of 306.15. On the 1-meter Madden claimed the top spot with a mark of 315.58. Emma Whitner posted a personal best with a 277.05 and placed second.

Mabel Zavaros clocked a first-place finish with a new personal-best swim of 1:57.80 in the 200 Fly.

Tennessee’s Amanda Nunan gave the Lady Vols a win in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:46.85).

The Tennessee women tallied back-to-back wins in the 100 free (Erika Brown, 48.92) and 200 backstroke (Meghan Small, 1:55.27).

Brown notched three individual wins for the Tennessee women with a victory in the 100 butterfly (53.22), her second consecutive three-win meet. Small recorded her second individual win with a first-place finish in the 200 individual medley (1:58.16). The Lady Vols capped off the day with a win in the 400 free relay (3:18.90).

Freriks dominates for Kentucky

In her final dual meet of her college career, senior Geena Freriks shattered a school record that had been steadfast for 20 years, as Kentucky concluded dual season with a pair of victories at Cincinnati Friday.

Both Kentucky clubs collected back-to-back wins to cap their season with wins over Louisville last week and wins over Cincinnati Friday. The No. 10 women defeated the Bearcats, 157-100. The Kentucky men found success on a 156-101 final score.

“Obviously, today was highlighted by Geena’s performance, which was really a phenomenal swim,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “She will never swim the 1000 free competitively again, so we just thought we would give it a run today and see what she could do when she didn’t have to worry about other events. Although, she did come back and actually swam a good 50 free. She has got really good speed and versatility. So, I was really proud of her performance.”

The seven-time NCAA All-American earned headlines when she earned the top spot on Kentucky’s 1000 free all-time performance list, adding to her lengthy list of program records. Freriks out swam the field to post a 9:30.78, which reset the program record by more than 10 seconds. Remarkably, it was nearly 20 seconds improved from her previous career best in the event, 9:51.27.

Freriks’ 9:30.78 ranks among the top-20 best times in the world, checking in as the 19th all-time best swim in the 1000 free.

Former Wildcat Rachel Komisarz previously held the school record when she clocked a 9:41.53 in 1999, which would rank as the best time for 20 years. Komisarz was a three-time Southeastern Conference Champion and six-time NCAA All-American.

Freriks, who owns five individual long-course program records, now holds three individual short-course records – 200 free, 500 free and 1000 free. She has also contributed to four program-record relays in her four-year career.

Texas A&M beat SMU

The No. 10 Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team downed the SMU Mustangs, 120-83, in dual meet action on Friday evening in the Aggies’ final tune-up before the Southeastern Conference Championships.

With the victory, the Aggies finished the regular season with a 5-3 dual meet record.

“It was a good day of racing,” said Aggie head coach Jay Holmes. “We needed one last chance to work on some things and going against SMU gave us that chance. I’m happy with the way we competed.”

Holmes pointed to the 200-yard freestyle victory by sophomore transfer Mark Theall as the highlight of the night. Theall trailed SMU’s Carson Klein by nearly a second at the 150-yard mark, but he grabbed the win with a swift 24.70 final 50 yards.

“The swim of the meet was Mark Theall’s 200 free,” Holmes said. “It wasn’t necessarily the time, which was good, but it was the way he did it. He was far behind three-fourths of the way and really came home well on the last 50.”

Seven different Aggies tallied individual victories: Felipe Rizzo in the 500 freestyle (9:22.78), Theall in the 200 free (1:38.28), Adam Koster in the 50 free (20.07), Ben Walker in the 200 IM (1:49.40), Mateo Gonzalez in the 200 butterfly (1:49.67), Shaine Casas in the 100 free (45.25) and Mark Schnippenkoetter in the 500 free (4:32.63).

LSU shines in trials

The No. 25 LSU women’s swim team participated in time trial races Saturday morning along with Houston and Rice. Overall, six LSU swimmers set new career-bests and a pool record was broken in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

“I liked the format we chose to do this year,” said LSU head swim coach Dave Geyer. “We just opened things up today for all three programs and we saw some really good performances. With us being two weeks out from the SEC Championships, we needed a day like this as a program.”

New career-bests came fast and early as Brittany Thompson touched the wall in 1:57.98 in the 200-Yard Backstroke, the first event of the day.

In the same event, Katie Smith set a new career-low with a 1:59.69.

In the 100-Yard Breaststroke, Lauren Thompson set a new personal best with a time of 1:03.11.

Two personal records were set in the 100-Yard Butterfly as Nicole Rozier and Lia Joslin touched the wall in 54.00 and 55.65, respectively.

In the last event of the day, Leyre Casarin set a new career mark with a 23.24 in the 50-Yard Freestyle.

Arkansas beats Kansas on senior day

The Arkansas swimming and diving team defeated Kansas 172-128 Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale, honoring its 10 seniors prior to the meet. With the victory, the Razorbacks extended their winning streak against the Jayhawks to 10.

The Hogs won 11 events and earned 24 podium finishes, sweeping the podium in the 100 yard freestyle. Freshman Vanessa Herrmann led the team with three individual first-place finishes, while Peyton Palsha, Marlena Pigliacampi and Anna Hopkin each recorded two.

Palsha set a season-best time in the 1000 yard freestyle (9:53.82), just 0.28 seconds away from setting a lifetime best. Herrmann set a lifetime best in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:02.16), breaking the time she set in November.

Georgia defeats Emory

he Georgia swimming and diving teams wrapped up the regular season and celebrated Senior Day with a sweep of Division III power Emory on Saturday at Gabrielsen Natatorium.

The No. 12 Bulldogs posted a 166.5-117.5 decision, while the No. 12 Lady Bulldogs won 167-93. Both Georgia squads wound up at 3-3 on the year.

“I think they just did a great job,” said coach Jack Bauerle. “Senior day’s a special day anyhow, and you know I just want to say thanks to the seniors, every one of them. We had seven go in, and you know they’re good kids when you miss them before they leave. They did a great job today, all the seniors raced hard which we always expect. Hopefully we get a little bit more clarity on who we’re putting in the conference. A couple guys really stood up well and a couple young ladies stood up well, so our decisions will be harder but that’s always a good thing. I think across the board it was a really good meet for the set of circumstances.”

Georgia started the meet with a sweep of the women’s 200 medley relay (1:42.67) followed by the men taking first in the 200 medley relay as well (1:30.22). The Bulldogs then won every remaining event and swept 17 of them.

Courtney Harnish and Julia von Biberstein were the double winners for the women. Harnish claimed first in the 1,650 freestyle (16:04.28) and the 100 butterfly (54.28). Von Biberstein clinched the 100 (1:01.93) and 200 breaststroke (2:15.62).

Veronica Burchill touched the wall first to stop the clock at 1:48.83 in the 200 freestyle. Katherine Parker notched a first-place finish in the 100 backstroke with a time of 54.09. Callie Dickinson stopped the clock first in the 200 butterfly (2:01.39). In freestyle, Olivia Carter took the 50 (23.68), Gabi Fa’amamusili nabbed the 100 (50.63), and Sammie Burchill claimed the 500 (4:55.83). Meryn McCann notched a first-place finish in the 200 backstroke (1:58.55). Sofia Carnevale touched the wall first in the 200 breaststroke (2:17.60). Danielle Della Torre took first in the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.16.

Andrew Abruzzo was the triple winner of the day for the men touching the wall first for a new career-high in the 1,650 freestyle (15:02.52). Abruzzo also claimed a second triumph and career-high in the 200 butterfly (1:45.67). His third victory came in the 200 backstroke (1:45.88).

Aidan Burns had double victories in the 100 breaststroke (56.85) and the 100 freestyle (44.63). Billy Rothery posted two wins as well in the 50 freestyle (20.33) and the 100 butterfly (47.47).

Vanderbilt tops Little Rock

Vanderbilt won nine of 12 events to cruise to a convincing 152-72 win over visiting Little Rock on Saturday.

The victory for the women’s swimming team boosted the Commodores’ dual meet record to 6-4 on the season, as the squad now looks ahead to the SEC Championships set to take place later this month in Athens, Georgia.

“It was very promising to have some great races on senior day and send this incredible class out on a high note,” said head coach Jeremy Organ. “We saw some good things today, as well as some things that we can work on in the coming weeks as we prepare for the conference championships.”

Lauren Bergmann (100-yard butterfly – 58.83), Tonner Debeer (100-yard backstroke – 56.80), Hannah Hunt (100-yard breaststroke – 1:05.71), Abby Burke (100-yard freestyle – 53.00) and Kaley Buchannan (100-yard individual medley – 1:00.56) teamed to sweep the meet’s 100-yard events.

South Carolina competes at VT

South Carolina men’s and women’s swimming finished with a pair of top-three finishes on day one of the Virginia Tech Invite. The Gamecocks finished with two top-three finishes in relay events on the first of three finals sessions at the annual “Technotational” in the Christianburg Aquatic Center.

The South Carolina 200 free relay team of Danielle Doennebrink, Ryann Styer, Hannah Gerlock and Lauren Hilt finished second at 1:34.27 in the first event of the night session with Gerlock just edging out a Hokie swimmer for the runner-up spot.

Rebecca Cohen was one of just three swimmers under 5-minutes in the women’s 500 free, finishing third at 4:59.42.

Carolina had two swimmers, Doennebrink and Alex Wade, qualify for the A-final in the 50 free. Doennebrink finished sixth (23.69) in the women’s heat while Wade finished eighth (21.14) in the men’s heat of the evening session.

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