The
University of Florida swimming and diving teams successfully continued their
season on Saturday afternoon with a dominant win on both the men and women’s
side. Sweeping multiple events, and with a school record nearly going down, the
No. 7th ranked men’s team improved their season to 5-0 and remained
perfect with a score of 178 to FAU’s 111 while the 9th ranked women
scored 169 to FAU’s 106 and improved to a 2-3 record.
The
afternoon began with a couple of victories in the 200 medley relay which saw
both the men and women taking the top two spots in each event. This set off a
terrific performance by the Gators which concluded with the men and women claiming
a combined 23 victories out of 32 races.
The
first individual event of the day saw the men’s team sweep the competition in
the 1000 yard freestyle with freshman Arthur Frayler (Fort Washington,
Pa.) leading the way, and sophomores Thomas Veale (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.),
and Harrison Curley (Winter Park, Fla.) following closely behind in the
second and third spot, respectively.
In
the 200 yard freestyle, sophomore Matthew Curby (Oviedo, Fla.) took
first place in the event, stopping the clock at 1:39.11. Fellow Gators Jason
Taylor (Plant City, Fla.) and Colin Hamilton (Jacksonville, Fla.)
tied for second place (1:41.00) thus adding another sweep for the Gator men.
Sophomore
Carlos Omana (Miami,Fla.) contributed with yet another victory for
Florida in the 100 backstroke (50.06) while sophomore Dan Wallace (North
Berwick, Scotland) finished first in the 100 breaststroke (57.70). Also taking
the top spots were freshmen Justin Kairslik (Clermont, Fla.) in the 500
free (4:29.82) and sophomore Matthew Thompson (Seminole, Fla.) in the
200 back (1:50.09). All of these events saw the top three spots being claimed
by the Orange and Blue.
Continuing
the men’s success was senior Cameron Martin (Clearwater, Fla.) who took
first in the 200 fly with a time of 1:49.16. Behind him were Gator freshmen Luke
Torres (1.49.96) and Adam Bull (Dallas, Texas) who swam a season
best 1:50.18 in the event. Also with a first place finish was freshman Ryan
Rosenbaum (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) who swam the 200 breaststroke and clocked
in a time of 2:05.87.
Leading
the way for the Florida Gators women’s team was junior Elizabeth Beisel
(North Kingstown, R.I.) who began the afternoon with a stellar performance in
the 1650 yards freestyle, nearly breaking a 24 year-old school record. Her time
of 15:53.22 is the third fastest time ever recorded in this event in Gator
history and it is also an NCAA “A” qualifying standard. Fellow junior Savannah
Napier (Chattanooga, Tenn.) finished second in the event (17:07.20).
In
the 200 freestyle, the Gators women overpowered the Owls by taking the top 4
spots. Freshman Nathalie Hinds (Midland, Texas) led the way with a time
of 1:48.70. The second spot was claimed by freshman Jessica Thielmann
(Newcastle, England) in a time of 1:49.73, while the third and fourth place went
to sophomore Rebecca Rainier (Richmond, Va.) with a 1:51.61 and junior Alicia
Mathieu (Marlborough, Conn.) who recorded a season best of 1:51.69. The
Gators had yet another freshman added a win when Lindsey McKnight (Coral
Springs, Fla.) touched the wall first in the 100 back with a time of 57.89.
Continuing
with the day’s strong showing, the women’s team had a couple of sweeps of their
own in the 100 breaststroke, the 200 fly, the 50 free and the 200 backstroke.
In breaststroke, junior Hilda Luthersdottir (Harfnarfjordur, Iceland)
finished first with a season-best and an NCAA “B” qualifying standard time of
1:01.83.
Senior
Janie Bohunicky (Gainesville, Fla.) came out on top in the 200 fly
(2:00.06), while freshman Sinead Russell (Burlington, Canada) and junior
Kaitlin Frehling (St. Petersburg, Fla.) tied for first in the 50 free
stopping the clock with a time of 23.71 and freshman Sierra Kuhn (Verona, Wis.)
won the 200 back (2:03.93). Russell continued the afternoon by adding another
win in the 100 yard free (50.66) and keeping the day’s trend of events swept by
the Gators.
Redshirt
freshman Zach Hernandez (Johns Creek, Ga.) claimed two victories by
finishing first and with personal bests in both the 1-meter and 3-meter board. On
the women’s side freshman Kahlia Warner won the 3-meter while freshman
Emily Mosher (Cincinnati, Ohio) took the top spot in a sweep by the Gator women
on the 1-meter board.
Next,
both Florida men and women’s teams head to Auburn, Ala. for a dual meet against
SEC rival Auburn Tigers on January 26th before returning home on
February 1st to face off against Tennessee in the last home meet of
the season.