ATLANTA – Vanessa Pearl rewrote the record books in the 200 Breast, as she posted the fastest time in school history on Saturday. The Florida women’s swimming & diving team put together another record-setting performance on the final day of the Georgia Tech Invitational at the McAuley Aquatic Center. UF won with a final score of 1,266.
Pearl set a Top-5 time on all three days of the invitational, but none were as special as her performance on Saturday in the 200 Breast A Final. She placed first with a time of 2:08.04 and won by a full two seconds. Florida’s top time was previously held by Hilda Luthersdottir, which was a 2:08.37, set in 2013. Kelly Fertel climbed into the No. 6 spot all-time with her swim of 2:12.11. Layla Black added to the historic times and posted the ninth-best mark in program history with a 2:12.69, as she finished in eighth.
Leah Braswell got the finals started with a career-best swim in the 1,650 Free, where she swam a personal-best time of 15:59.47 and placed second. Her time is the seventh-best time in Florida history. Taylor Ault added a season-best swim of 16:14.26 and finished fourth. Georgia Darwent posted an eighth-place finish and clocked her fastest time of the season with a 16:38.83. Kahra Williams notched a 10th-place time of 16:42.56, her fastest swim on the year.
Mabel Zavaros recorded her fastest time in the A Final of the 200 Back with a mark of 1:53.10 and set the seventh-fastest time in UF history. Rosie Zavaros placed sixth with a career-swim of 1:56.07. Both Mabel and Rosie earned NCAA B Cuts. Sydney Sell added an eighth-place swim with a time of 1:57.39. Darwent tied for ninth with a mark of 1:59.23. Emma Ball won the C Final with a season-best time of 1:59.02.
Sherridon Dressel notched her fastest time of the season in the A Final of the 100 Free with a swim of 49.14, which is an NCAA B Cut. Bella Garofalo set the fastest time of her career with a mark of 49.44 as she placed ninth.
In the 200 Breast B Final, Savanna Faulconer finished with a first-place mark and a season-best time of 2:14.61. Hannah Burns added a second-place finish and a time of 2:14.77, her fastest on the season.
Mabel Zavaros added a fifth-place finish in the A Final of the 200 Fly with her fastest time of the season, 1:58.43. Georgia Marris clocked a season-best mark of 1:59.13 in the B Final and came in second.
The team of Garofalo, Kelsey Dambacher, Tori Bindi, and Dressel finished with the fastest relay time this season in the 400 Free Relay. The squad finished in fourth with a group effort of 3:18.10.
Emma Whitner placed seventh in the platform with a cumulative score of 231.80. Lauren Snider compiled 223.55 points and finished eighth.
From the coaches – Head Coach Jeff Poppell
- “It was a great week of racing for both the women’s and men’s teams in Atlanta!”
- “I can’t be any more proud of the spirit, passion, and competitiveness that the team displayed throughout the three-day competition.”
- “We’re definitely in a pretty good place as we arrive at the midway point of our season and look forward to making additional strides in the months ahead.”
- “I would like to thank our coaches, support staff and so many involved with our program on a daily basis as the level of success through the fall would not have been possible otherwise.”
- “Go Gators!”
From the coaches – Diving Coach Bryan Gillooly
- “It was a great showing for the women at this meet. Probably the best overall as a team in my short time here. Everyone was in scoring position and we had multiple finalists in each event.”
- “Although not at her best physically, Broke Madden was solid as usual and was in contention to win both springboard events.”
- “Elizabeth Perez had a real breakthrough winning the preliminaries on 3-meter and making finals in both springboard events.”
- “I think we are right on pace for mid-season and we are extremely motivated going into the second half of the season.”
- “With the women’s team on a big upswing, diving can play a real big part in the team’s success.”
Team Standings
1. Florida – 1,266
2. Auburn – 886.5
3. Alabama – 626.5
T4. South Carolina – 593.5
T4. Florida State – 593.5
6. North Carolina – 565.5
7. Virginia Tech – 535.5
8. Georgia Tech – 434
9. Florida Gulf Coast – 327
10. East Carolina – 188
Auburn finishes second
Auburn’s women’s swimming and diving team posted six top-3 three finishes and 11 top-10 finishes while the men had three top-3 finishes and eight top-10 finishes on the final day of the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational at the McAuley Aquatics Center in Atlanta.
Emily Hetzer got the final session off with an all-time swim in the mile, clocking a 16:05.48 to finish third. Hetzer’s time, which is now the fourth-fastest in the nation, makes her the seventh-fastest performer with the 19th-fastest performance in school history. Her split at the 1000 mark of 9:43.54 was a personal-best and also moved her up to sixth in school history in that event.
Auburn went 1-2 in the 200 back with Erin Falconer taking second in 1:53.56 and Sonnele Oeztuerk touching in 1:54.18 to take third. For Falconer, it represented the fifth-fastest performance of her career in the event, giving her five of the top 25 performances in school history.
One event later it was Claire Fisch earning her second individual victory of the invitational, blistering a 48.37 100 free to win the event by .39 seconds over second place.
— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Florida and Auburn. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.
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