Rarely does a dual swimming meet end in a tie, but that\u2019s what took place Saturday in Minneapolis, where the Minnesota and Florida women\u2019s teams each scored 150 points in a thrilling meet. On the men\u2019s side, Florida had too much depth across many events \u2013 especially freestyle \u2013 to be caught, and won the meet 174.5-124.5.<\/p>\n
Florida came into the meet with a day of racing under their belt, having raced against Vanderbilt on Thursday. Minnesota came out swinging hard, winning the first three events and building a big lead. The Gophers won the 200 medley relay with a 1:41.42, beating Florida by almost two seconds. That was followed by a 9:53.79 from Sam Harding<\/strong> to give the Gophers nine big points in the 1000 free. Jessica Thielmann<\/strong> settled for second with a 9:58.04.<\/p>\n In the 200 free, Minnesota\u2019s Lauren Votava<\/strong> and Florida\u2019s Ashlee Linn<\/strong> were in a tight battle through the final strokes. Votava managed to hold off Linn to get the victory, 1:49.62 to 1:49.93.<\/p>\n Georgia-Mae Hohmann<\/strong> got a win for Florida with a 55.25 in the 100 backstroke, beating Minnesota native Zoe Avestruz<\/strong> and her 56.02. In the next women\u2019s event, the 100 breast, Minnesota struck back with a 1-2 finish, led by the 1:02.81 by Rachel Munson<\/strong> and the 1:03.86 by Rae Bullinger<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Minnesota and Florida negated each other\u2019s points in the next two events, with Minnesota taking the win in the 200 fly thanks to a 1:59.01 from Danielle Mack<\/strong> and a 2-3 finish from Florida (Taylor Katz<\/strong>: 2:01.86, Alyssa Yambor-Maul<\/strong>: 2:02.34). Natalie Hinds\u2019<\/strong> win for Florida in the 50 free with a 22.85 was followed by aa 23.80 from Minnesota\u2019s Abigail Raatz<\/strong> and a 23.81 from Avestruz.<\/p>\n After Minnesota racked up 14 points in the women\u2019s 1-meter diving led by Yu Zhou\u2019s<\/strong> 336.98, Florida chomped back with big swims in the next three events. Hinds returned to win the 100 free with a 49.54 as Florida went 1-3-4 in the event. The Gators were 1-2-3 in the 200 back, thanks to a 1:58.17 from Hohmann, a 1:59.47 from Linn and a 2:00.87 from Sydney Sell<\/strong>. Hannah Burns<\/strong> and Paige Scheriger<\/strong> went 1-2 for Florida in the 200 breast, as Burns posted a 2:17.55 and Scheriger was second with a 2:17.70.<\/p>\n The meet stayed close in the next two events. Hinds stepped up for her third win of the meet, a 54.01 in the 100 fly. She trailed Minnesota\u2019s Danielle Nack<\/strong> after 75 yards but put in a rally to get to the finish ahead of Nack\u2019s 54.06. In the 500 free, Harding once again got the better of Thielmann, winning with a 4:52.00 to Thielmann\u2019s 4:54.31.<\/p>\n After another 12 points for Minnesota in the 3-meter diving event \u2013 won by Yu with 380.03 points \u2013 Florida gained 16 points in the 200 IM with a 1-2-3 finish. Linn scored the big first-place points with a 2:02.34, with Burns (2:03.67) and Hohmann (2:03.67) following close behind. Florida was ahead 146-137 going into the last event, the 400 free relay.<\/p>\n Minnesota scored 13 points in the relay, winning with a 3:23.83 and placing third with a 3:27.95. Florida\u2019s runner-up time of 3:25.45 created the tie score to close out the meet.<\/p>\n On the other side of the coin, Florida\u2019s men\u2019s team was very strong, winning all but three swimming events. <\/p>\n The Gators\u2019 weakness in breaststroke was evident against Minnesota, as the Gophers took the top three places in the 100 and 200 breast races. Eric Sande<\/strong> and Conner McHugh<\/strong> each got under 57 seconds in the 100 breast, going 1-2 with times of 56.60 and 56.69, respectively, while teammate Nick Hatanaka<\/strong> was third with a 57.39. In the 200 breast, John Bushman<\/strong> got the win with a 2:02.08, while McHugh was second with a 2:02.94 and Jakub Maly<\/strong> took third with a 2:03.24.<\/p>\nMinnesota vs. Florida Men\u2019s Meet<\/h2>\n