NASHVILLE,
Tenn. — For the third time in the last four years — and the sixth time
overall — the Gator women’s cross country squad brought the SEC title
back to Gainesville.
After
winning back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010, the Gators struck again
this year for their sixth SEC title (’84, ’96, ’97, ’09, ’10, ’12) in
women’s program history, the second-most for an SEC women’s cross
country squad. The UF’s men’s squad turned in a fifth-place showing at
the meet for the program’s 16th straight top-five SEC finish.
Six
Gators ran lifetime best 6K marks and all five scorers turned in top-25
finishes to lead the women to the 2012 SEC Title at Percy Warner Park
in Nashville, including second-place finisher Florence Ngetich, who
clocked in at 20:27.41 for the sixth-fastest time in Florida history as
the Gators’ highest finisher in the women’s field of 124 athletes.
The
Gators turned in a score of 61 points, while Arkansas (70) and
Vanderbilt (119) rounded out the top three women’s team scores. On the
men’s side, Arkansas claimed its 20th league title (35), Georgia
finished second (73), SEC newcomers Missouri (80) and Texas A&M (80)
tied for third, while Florida checked in fifth with 121 points.
Seven
UF runners picked up All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman honors on the
afternoon, led by junior Mark Parrish’s All-SEC First Team honor, while
both Ngetich and junior Agata Strausa led the way on the women’s All-SEC
First Team. Senior Callie Cooper earned All-SEC Second Team accolades,
while three freshmen in Shelby Davidson, Julie Macedo and Phil Duncan
earned their first All-SEC accolades as members of the SEC All-Freshman
squads.
On the men’s side, Parrish turned in the Gators’ highest finish in seventh, clocking a 24:06.09 to lead the way.
Swimming:
At Columbia, S.C., the Florida swimming and diving teams defeated South
Carolina in their second dual meet in two days on Friday.
Florida’s
No. 1 ranked men’s team won 166-128 and the women’s team took the win
176-119. It was the Gators’ second SEC dual meet of the season as the
men improved to 2-0 and the women are 1-1.
The
diving events went first, with freshman Emily Mosher finishing second
on the three-meter board and third on the one-meter. Freshman Delaney
Dye also scored as she was third on the three-meter and fifth on the
one-meter.
On
the men’s side, junior Christopher Jones finished third on the
three-meter, sophomore Zach Hernandez was fourth and senior Sean Saley
came in fifth. Saley led the way with a third-place finish on the
one-meter, followed by Jones and fourth and Hernandez in fifth.
Florida
had a strong showing in the distance freestyle events. Junior Alicia
Mathieu won both the 1000 and 500 for the women. Mathieu finished the
1000 in a time of 10:00.75 and the 500 in 4:54.79. Sophomore Molly
Dubrasky grabbed second for UF in the 1,000 free with a time of
10:10.59. Freshman Ashlee Linn and sophomore Jordan Smith completed the
sweep in the 500 free, finishing second (4:56.54) and third (5:00.06)
respectively.
The
men swept the top three spots in both the 1,000 and 500 free. Freshman
Arthur Frayler earned his first win, touching first in a time of 9:11.96
in the 1000 free. Sophomore Carlos Omana and junior Conor Signorin
rounded out the top three with times of 9:13.96 and 9:19.59
respectively. In the 500 free, sophomore Dan Wallace took the win,
Frayler finished second and Signorin was third.
In
another sweep, junior Elizabeth Beisel won the 200 free in a time of
1:48.07 and just behind her was freshman Jessica Theilmann in second and
junior Kaitlin Frehling in third.
The
Gators’ tallied wins in all the backstroke events as freshman Natalie
Hinds swam her way to wins in the 100 backstroke (55.86) and the 200
backstroke (2:02.16) and junior Marcin Cieslak won both with a 49.71 in
the 100 back and 1:49.96 in the 200.
Linn
also grabbed two individual victories, touching in at 2:04.30 in the
200 IM and 24.00 in the 50 freestyle. Also collecting two wins on the
afternoon was senior Jamie Bohunicky, who won the 200 butterfly in a
time of 2:03.03 and the 100 free finishing in 51.01.
Junior
Hilda Luthersdottir and sophomore Matt Elliott took the top spots in
the 100 breast, with Luthersdottir finishing in 1:03.28 to win the
women’s and Elliott won in 56.02. With his third event win in two days,
freshman Pawel Werner won the 100 butterfly in a time of 49.20.
Coming
in first for the men in the 200 free was junior Sebastien Rousseau, who
finished in a time of 1:37.72. Junior Brad deBorde won his
second-straight 50 free, finishing in a time of 20.58. Wallace had his
second win of the day when he finished the 200 butterfly in 1:47.75 and
Beisel added a second win with a first place finish in the 200
breaststroke (2:15.65).
