It’s been eight years since the Florida women’s swimming and diving team faced off against FGCU. On Saturday, sophomore Sherridon Dressel and junior Hannah Burns gave it a performance to mull over until the two teams meet again.
Both swimmers contributed to a dominating performance as the Gators defeated FGCU 173-125 in the O’Connell Center. Dressel was a part of the winning team in the 200 medley relay, and also placed the only B-cut time of the meet with a 53.62 in the 100 backstroke. Burns won both the 1,000 and 500 freestyle events.
The Gators finished first in 12 of the 16 total events, including a podium sweep in the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle. Associate coach Jeff Poppell was particularly impressed with women’s performance.
“The best thing about the day was them standing up and really competing tough after a hard week of training,” Poppell said in a release. “There is no doubt that they came into this meet tired, but they showed no signs of fatigue."
The diving squad shined in the event as well, despite missing key members of the team in sophomore Brooke Madden, junior Abigail Howell and junior Teya Syskakis, who sat out of the diving events for unknown reasons. It was freshman Emma Whitner who stepped up, winning the 3-meter diving event and placing second in the 1-meter.
“Emma earning her first collegiate win was great. All of the women really did a great job,” diving coach Bryan Gillooly said in a release.
Gillooly was also impressed with the team’s performance despite being short of members.
:This meet was a lot of fun. Abby, Teya and Brooke were out this meet, so Emma, Boni (Trinter) and Brianna (Felegi) really had a chance to step up,” Gillooly said. “I was very proud of the way they stepped up.”
The men’s team was set to swim against each other in an intrasquad Orange and Blue meet, but the event was canceled on Friday to give the men’s team more training for upcoming events, leaving just the women to compete. Both teams will be back in action beginning on Nov. 16 at the Purdue Invitational in West Lafayette, Indiana.
You can follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells, and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
The Florida women's swimming and diving team defeated FGCU on Saturday 173-125 where UF won 12 of the 16 total events.
