Saturday, January 26, 2013

Gators Split Dual Meet with Auburn

The University of Florida swimming and diving teams split in dual meet action against SEC opponent Auburn on Saturday, January 26. The No. 5 UF men won the meet 167-133, improving to 6-0 (5-0 SEC) and the No. 9 women fell to the Tigers 138-161 and are now 2-4 (1-3 SEC) on the season.

The Gators dominated the distance events on both sides. The women took the top two spots in the 1000 free, with freshman Jessica Thielmann (Newcastle, England) winning in a personal-best time of 9:40.85 and junior Alicia Mathieu (Marlborough, Conn.) grabbed second also setting a personal-best touching in 9:44.16.

Florida’s men then swept the top three spots. Freshman Arthur Frayler (Fort Washington, Pa.) finished first in a personal-best 9:02.95. Sophomore Carlos Omana (Miami, Fla.) and senior Jason Taylor (Plant City, Fla.) rounded out the top three spots, as they finished in 9:03.79 and 9:09.84 respectively.

Two more freshman collected wins in the 200 free. Lindsey McKnight (Coral Springs, Fla.) won in a time of 1:48.18 on the women’s side. Sophomore Natasha Fung (Edmonton, Canada) and junior Ellese Zalewski (Melbourne, Australia) made it another sweep as they were second and third respectively. For the men, freshman Pawel Werner (Wroclaw, Poland) clocked in first at 1:36.42 and junior Sebastien Rousseau (Cape Town, South Africa) was second.

In another sweep, junior Elizabeth Beisel (North Kingstown, R.I.) won the 200 fly in a time of 1:58.01. Senior Jamie Bohunicky (Gainesville, Fla.) finished second with a time of 2:01.36 and sophomore Summer Stephens (Louisville, Ky.) was third in 2:02.49.

Junior Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland) won the men’s 200 fly in a time of 1:45.96 and senior Cameron Martin (Clearwater, Fla.) took second with a 1:48.43. Junior Brad deBorde (Longwood, Fla.) added another win as he tied for first in the 50 free with a time of 19.84.

Beisel won her second event of the day as she clocked in at 1:54.60 in the 200 back and freshman Ashlee Linn (Southfield, Mich.) was second with a time of 1:57.97. Sophomore Matt Elliott (Peoria, Ill.) won the men’s 200 breast in 1:58.39 and fellow sophomore Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (Madrid, Spain) was third in a time of 1:59.99.

With another one-two-three finish, Thielmann grabbed her second win of the day after stopping the clock at 4:47.18 in the 500 free. Mathieu was second in a time of 4:49.36 and Bohunicky took third in 4:49.62. The men followed suit, as Taylor took the win in a time of 4:25.33, Frayler was second with a 4:26.07 and freshman Justin Kaisrlik (Clermont, Fla.) finished third as he clocked in at 4:28.45.

Cieslak then won his second event to sweep the butterfly events, as he clocked in first in the 100 fly in a time of 47.65. Then Beisel rounded out the individual events with another win, as she swam a season-best 1:58.08 to finish first in the 200 IM for the Gators.

Then the men’s 200 IM saw the Gators take the top three spots again. Cieslak earned his third win on the day after finishing in a time of 1:46.99, Solaeche-Gomez was second with a 1:47.78 and Rousseau took third in 1:49.70. The men closed out the meet with a win in the 400 free relay. The group of deBorde, Werner, freshman Corey Main and sophomore Matt Curby (Oviedo, Fla.) won with a time of 2:54.94.

In the diving events, freshman Delaney Dye (Tallahasse, Fla.) finished second on the three-meter after scoring 296.85 and freshman Kahlia Warner (Australia) was third on the three-meter with a 277.95. For the men, senior Sean Saley (Pompano Beach, Fla.) took third on the three-meter with a score of 314.33.

Florida will return home for their last dual meet of the season as they host SEC opponent Tennessee on Friday, February 1 at 7:00 p.m. in the O’Connell Center.