Junior
Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland) won his second individual SEC title of
the meet to lead the Gators on night four of the 2013 SEC Swimming and Diving
Championships. Florida’s men maintained their hold on first place, accumulating
1,038 points as they head into the final day of the meet. The UF women sit in
third place with 852.5 points, trailing Georgia (1,058) and Texas A&M (985).
Florida
continued to rewrite the history books as they had 16 participants in the
finals tonight, and eight different Gators swam personal-best times during the
fourth night. The men and women competed in the 200 fly, 100 back, 100 breast,
women’s platform and 400 medley relay.
The
Gators made up half of the field in the men’s 200 fly, with four qualifying during
the prelims session earlier today. The group set the pace early, never
relinquishing the top three spots to sweep the podium. Cieslak defended his SEC
title in the event, posting a 1:42.17 for a NCAA “A” time and currently the
fastest time in the country. His win gave him a sweep of the fly events.
Finishing
in second was redshirt junior Sebastien Rousseau (Cape Town, South
Africa). Rousseau set a new personal-best time of 1:42.18 (NCAA “A”) to surpass
Ryan Lochte for third all-time in UF history. Senior Cameron Martin
(Clearwater, Fla.) completed the top-three sweep with a personal-best time. He
swam a 1:43.04 NCAA “B” time that ranks fifth in school history.
Sophomore
Dan Wallace (North Berwick, Scotland) swam his personal-best time for a
fifth place finish. He clocked in at 1:44.18 for a NCAA “B” cut time. Taking
the win in the B-Final was freshman Luke Torres (Miami, Fla.), who also
saw a personal-best time with his 1:46.09 NCAA “B” time. Fellow freshman Adam
Bull (Dallas, Texas) took 14th with a NCAA “B” time of 1:47.30.
In
the women’s 200 fly, senior Jamie Bohunicky (Gainesville, Fla.) finished
eighth with a NCAA “B” time of 1:58.24. Sophomore Molly Dubrasky
(Estero, Fla.) tied for 11th, swimming a personal-best NCAA “B” time
of 1:58.44 and fellow sophomore Rebecca Rainer (Richmond, Va.) clocked
in at 2:00.71 to take 16th. Also scoring was sophomore Lauren Neidigh
(Orange Park, Fla.) with her 21st place finish in 2:00.75.
Finishing
fourth in the men’s 100 back was freshman Corey Main (Auckland, New
Zealand), who swam a personal-best 46.84 to rank eighth in UF history. He just
missed the podium by .10 of a second. Sophomore Christian-Paul Homer
(Trinidad and Tobago) challenged for the win in the B-Final, just .05 behind
ninth place to take 10th with his personal-best time of 47.69.
Earning
her first trip to the podium was freshman Sinead Russell (Burlington,
Ontario). Russell finished third in the women’s 100 back with a NCAA “A” time
of 51.95 to rank second in school history behind Gemma Spofforth. Junior Hilda
Luthersdottir (Harfnarfjordur, Iceland) won the women’s 100 breast B-Final
in her season-best time of 1:00.15.
Two
Gators competed in the A-Final of the men’s 100 breast as sophomore Matt
Elliott (Peoria, Ill.) finished in sixth place and sophomore Richard
Munch (Clifton, Va.) took eighth. Both swam NCAA “B” times, with Elliott
clocking in at 53.41 and Munch 53.58. Elliott set the new school record in the
morning prelim session with his time of 53.19.
Women’s
diving competed on the 10-meter platform. Freshman Kahlia Warner
(Queensland, Australia) finished 12th with a score of 241.75. Also
scoring for the Gators was freshman Delaney Dye (Tallahassee, Fla.) who
finished 15th with a score of 235.10.
The
last event of the evening was the 400 medley relay. Florida’s group of Main,
Elliott, Cieslak and junior Brad deBorde (Longwood, Fla.) finished
second for the men with a NCAA “A” time of 3:07.80. That time ranks fifth in
school history. On the women’s side, junior Elizabeth Beisel (North
Kingstown, R.I.), Luthersdottir, freshman Natalie Hinds (Midland, Texas)
and Bohunicky combined for a fifth place finish with a time of 3:32.94. Their
time ranks third in school history.
