Gators Cruise to Victory in Dual Meet Against FAU Owls

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. 7^th ranked men’s team improved their season to 5-0 and remained perfect with a score of 178 to FAU’s 111 while the 9^th 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 26^th before returning home on February 1^st to face off against Tennessee in the last home meet of the season.