Sherridon Dressel, Vanessa Pearl Lead Florida Past Miami; Men Win Twice

Sherridon Dressel led Florida past Miami. Photo Courtesy: Dan D'Addona

In their second meet of the season, the Florida women blanked the Miami Hurricanes, winning all 16 events on their way to a 203-90 victory, led by Sherridon Dressel and Vanessa Pearl.

The Gators have started the season 2-0 for the second straight season and improved their all-time record against the Hurricanes to 8-0.

Both Sherridon Dressel and Pearl walked away with a pair of individual event victories.

Sherridon Dressel set a new personal-best in the 100 fly with a swim of 53.21 and won the 100 free in 49.89. Kirschtine Balbuena and Celi Guzman also competed in the 100 fly as Baulbeuna finished just a couple seconds after Dressel and Guzman posted a personal-best time of 52.53 in third-place.

Pearl would win both breast events, with the first victory coming in the 100 , achieving a swim of 1:02.79. Adrianna Deboer placed third, just .19 seconds off from the runner-up.

In the 200 breast, Pearl finished in 2:16.41, almost five full seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Ellie Zweifel registered the third-fastest time as she hit the wall in 2:25.04.

In the 200 back, 200 free, 500 free and 1,000 free, Florida posted the top-three times across the board.

Georgia Darwent’s mark of 2:00.27 led the way in the 200 back, with Talia Bates not far behind her with a time of 2:03.08. Madison Conway rounded out the top-three with her time of 2:08.03.

Leah Braswell won the 200 free with a swim of 1:48.99, with Kelly Fertel (1:49.08) and Georgia Darwent (1:51.88) behind her. Fertel was able to come out on top in the 400 IM with an effort of 4:13.03.

Kathleen Golding continued her hot start to her freshmen year with her victory in the 1,000 free. Taylor Ault, the runner-up, hit the wall a couple seconds later in 10:05.97 followed by Tylor Mathieu posting a 10:11.85 finish.

Coming off her record-breaking performance at FIU, Braswell took home first-place in the 500 free in a time of 4:52.13, with Savanna Faulconer (4:56.42) and Tori Bindi (5:00.12)

Emma Ball was able to win her first individual win on the season, tallying a mark of 54.88. Rosie Zavaros finished behind her with a runner-up bid with her time of 55.90.

Coming off a victory yesterday in the 100 free, Bella Garofalo hit the fastest time in the 50 free, registering a swim of 23.31.

The diving effort was led by Ashley McCool, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. She dominated on the 1-meter, finishing 21 points ahead of the runner-up with a score of 306. 83 and posting the highest 3-meter score with 338.25.

The Gators’ relays didn’t slow down from their performance in the season-opener, opening the meet with a 400 medley relay win. The team of Ball, Pearl, Bates and Garofalo combined for the fastest swim of 3:42.27 and Zavaros, DeBoer, Hatch and Hills rounded out the top-three finishers with a time of 3:48.22.

Later in the meet, two Gator 400 free relay teams finished in almost identical times. Bates, Garofalo, Balbuena and Braswell barely squeaked out a victory ahead of Ball, Sherridon Dressel, Hillis, Bindi with a combined swim of 3:22.72. The second group of Gators would finish just .05 later.

during the Gators' meet against the Kentucky Wildcats and Ohio State Buckeyes on Friday, January 4, 2019 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium in Gainesville, FL / UAA Communications photo by Tim Casey

Sherridon Dressel; Photo Courtesy: Tim Casey

More SEC coverage here.

Florida men beat Nova Southeastern, Indian River

Fast swimming from start to finish allowed for the Gators men’s swimming and diving team to take two demanding victories to begin the new season.

Florida outscored the host Nova Southeastern by a final nod of 209-53 and Indian River by a tally of 219-43. This is the first-time in program history that Florida has opened with a tri-meet.

The Gators’ returning All-Americans from last season showed out, combining for six victories.

Clark Beach led the way with wins in the 200 free and 200 IM, while Will Davis (50 free), Marco Guarente (100 breast), Khader Baqlah (200 fly) and Trey Freeman (500 free) all picked up an individual event win.

Beach, Guarente, Baqlah and Freeman all posted B-cuts in their event wins.

Tyler Silver and Ethan Beach posted wins as Silver 100 back and Beach won the 200 back by almost three seconds, finishing in 1:47.97 and securing a B-cut.

In his collegiate debut, Kevin Vargas posted the fastest times in the 1,000 free and 200 breast. Fellow freshman Eric Friese also picked up a victory, posting a B-cut of 48.59 in the 100 fly. Brennan Gravely swam in the 1,000 free with Vargas, earning a B-cut with his swim of 9:21.63.

The Gators posted the top-three times in both relays. C. Beach, Guarente, Smith and W. Davis won the opening event in a combined swim of 1:29.86 with Dakota Mahaffey, Chandler Bray, Isaac Davis and Jack Szaranek right behind them with a combined effort of 1:30.46.

Later in the last relay, Gerry Quinn, Baqlah, Depassier and Smith beat out the Gator group of W. Davis, Freeman, Dillon Hillis and Szaranek by less than two seconds to take home the 400 free relay victory.

Nick Lydon led the Gator’s diver on the 1-meter, posting a score of 320.32. Alex Farrow (312.90) and Nick Carlin (309.52) finished in second and third.

In the 3-meter, Carlin took home the first-place nod, generating a score of 307.5 with Farrow right behind in second with a finally tally of 290.4.

Quotables:

Head coach Anthony Nesty — “It felt great for our guys to get back in the pool and pick up two victories to start off our season. Our numbers seemed to be at a good spot for this point in the season. We had contributions from returners and also from newcomers, which was nice to see. I’m excited to go up against FAU tomorrow and finish off this opening weekend of the season before getting almost two weeks to gear up for the next part of our schedule.”

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with the University of Florida. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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Tamer Elzayat

4 years ago

Abdullah Mouawad