Hosting the meet for the first time since 2005, the Gators brought home their fair share of medals and records. The Gators ended the meet with 14 conference titles won (10 men, four women), five SEC records set and seven school records either tied or broken. The Orange and Blue also posted 22 NCAA automatic marks to close out the four-day conference meet at the O’Connell Center. Several Gators won SEC hardware for their efforts this past week. Senior Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill.) took home SEC Male Swimmer of the Year, and along with Auburn’s Dan Mazzaferro, shared the Commissioner’s Trophy for the High Point Award for most individual points scored at the meet. Dwyer is the only swimmer in SEC history to take home both SEC Male Swimmer of the Year honors and the Commissioner’s Trophy in consecutive years. Freshmen Elizabeth Beisel (North Kingstown, R.I.) and Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland) (men) became the first pair of Gators to ever bring home both SEC Freshman of the Year Awards, with Beisel becoming the first Gator female since Caroline Burckle in 2005 to win the award, and Cieslak becoming the first Gator male since Bradley Ally in 2006 to be honored in the men’s side. In diving, senior Monica Dodson (Franklin, Ind.) picked up her first career SEC Female Diver of the Year Award, while head diving coach Donnie Craine was named SEC Women’s Diving Coach of the Year for the third time. Freshman Connor Signorin (East Windsor, N.J.) started off the Gators’ final night with a second-place finish in the men’s 1,650-yard freestyle. Signorin’s personal-best NCAA “B” cut time of 14:52.11 is the fastest of any freshman in the NCAA this season and the third quickest in 2010-11. Dwyer finished right behind him with the fourth-fastest time in the country, a personal-best NCAA provisional mark of 14:52.75. Signorin’s time ranks fourth in school history, while Dwyer’s time ranks sixth. Sophomore Corinne Showalter (Sarasota, Fla.) joined them on the medal stand with a bronze finish in the women’s 1,650 free, touching the wall at a personal-best 16:02.92. Showalter’s NCAA qualifying time ranks seventh all-time at Florida. A sweep in the 200-yard backstroke came next for the Orange and Blue, with redshirt sophomore Marco Loughran (London, England) and Beisel winning the men’s and women’s event with NCAA automatic qualifying times, respectively. Loughran swam the fastest time in the NCAA this season (1:40.11) to rank fourth in school history, while Beisel matched the Brit with her own nation-leading time of 1:51.55. Beisel’s time also ranks in the top-10 in school history (third). Next on the podium was senior Brett Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) who brought home silver with a time of 42.45 in the men’s 100-yard freestyle. Fraser’s mark ranks third in the NCAA this year and third in school history. Florida’s next trip to the medal stand came in the men’s 200-yard butterfly, where Cieslak and sophomore Sebastien Rousseau (Cape Town, South Africa) earned silver and bronze medals, respectively. The Poland native clocked in at an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:42.45 to take second, marking the third-quickest time in school history and ranking second in the NCAA this season. Rousseau’s time of 1:42.80 is the third-fastest mark nationally in 2010-11 and ranks fourth in school history. In the women’s 200 fly, junior Teresa Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.) brought home UF’s final championship of the evening with an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 1:53.95. The time is the third-fastest time in the country this year. The Gators’ last trip to the medal stand came in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay, where freshman Brad deBorde (Longwood, Fla.) teamed up with Fraser, Rousseau and sophomore Scott Sommer (Ocala, Fla.) to earn silver with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 2:51.93. The fourth-fastest time in school history also ranks fourth in the country this season.

The 10th-seeded Florida men’s tennis team fell, 4-1, to 15th-seed Duke in the quarterfinals of the ITA Men’s National Team Indoor Championship at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle on Saturday.

“I was again pleased with our effort, our fight and our intensity,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “Very similar to yesterday, we could have won, but we were not quite as good at the moment of truth in a couple of the matches. To Duke’s credit, they were. Now we play UCLA, and we’re looking forward to another top-10 matchup.”

Florida wraps up its weekend on Sunday at noon (Eastern) against sixth-seeded UCLA.

The Gators (7-2) dropped the doubles point for just the second time this season, but shook it off by winning four first sets in singles and sending the other two courts into a first-set tiebreaker before falling. However, Duke pushed its lead to 2-0 with a court four victory, as Fred Saba defeated Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.). But Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) put Florida on the board with a straight-sets win over 10th-ranked Henrique Cunha on court one,  marking Lacroix’s second win over a fellow top-10 player in as many days.

The Blue Devils struck again on court two with sixth-ranked Reid Carlton topping Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.), 7-6(5), 6-2, to give Duke the 3-1 edge as the three remaining courts went to a third set. Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) took Jared Pinsky to a third set tiebreak on court five, but the Blue Devils’ senior came through with a 7-5 win in the breaker to clinch the match for Duke. The remaining matches were abandoned in progress.

With tomorrow’s showdown against UCLA, the Gators will have played two of the top three programs this weekend in terms of all-time NCAA titles won. The Bruins have claimed 16, while Florida’s Friday opponent, Stanford, holds 17. Later this season, the Gators welcome Southern California, the all-time NCAA leader with 18, to Gainesville.

(10) Florida vs. (15) Duke

ITA Men’s National Team Indoor Championship Quarterfinals

Nordstrom Tennis Center – Seattle, Wash.

Feb. 19, 2011

Doubles

1 – *(9) Carleton/Cunha (Duke) def. (15) Lacroix/Slilam (UF) – 8-5

2 – Bangoura/Butz (UF) led Pinksy/Saba (Duke) – 7-6 (DNF)

3 – Holland/Mengel (Duke) def. Federhofer/van Overbeek (UF) – 8-4

Order of Finish: 3-1

Singles

1 – (9) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. (10) Henrique Cunha – 7-6(3), 6-3

2 – (6) Reid Carleton (Duke) def. (43) Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) – 7-6(5), 6-2

3 – Nassim Slilam (UF) led Chris Mengel (Duke) – 6-3, 2-6, 5-3 (DNF)

4 – Fred Saba (Duke) def. (74) Bob van Overbeek (UF) – 7-6(4), 6-3

5 – *Jared Pinsky def. Andrew Butz (UF) – 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(5)

6 – Luke Marchese (Duke) led Billy Federhofer (UF) – 3-6, 6-4, 4-1 (DNF)

Order of Finish: 4-1-2-5

*Clinching court