The Florida men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams faced Auburn on Saturday at the O’Connell Center.
The UF men’s team (6-1) was led by seniors Caeleb Dressel and Ben Lawless in route to securing a 183-114 victory over the Tigers.
Dressel finished first in his two individual events, the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle. He also had strong performances in the 400-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard medley relay, helping the Gators win both events.
Lawless — one of 15 athletes along with Dressel to be honored during a Senior Day ceremony — won two individual events as well, recording the top time in the 100-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle.
“We showed a lot of character today,” UF coach Gregg Troy said in a release. “We had a lot of good races against a good team.”
The women’s team fell to Auburn by 21 points, losing 160.5-139.5.
However, freshman Taylor Ault had an impressive showing, collecting a pair of first place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and the 1000-yard freestyle.
The women’s 3-meter dive came down to the final attempt between Auburn’s Alison Maillard and Florida’s Brooke Madden. Maillard barely edged out the win with a score of 329.03 to Madden’s 327.23. The next closest diver was more than 30 points behind her.
While the men were strong in their relays, beating Auburn in both of them, the women’s team struggled, dropping both races to the Tigers.
“We still have some glaring weaknesses we have to address,” Troy said.
The men’s and women’s teams will travel to Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Volunteers in their next meet on Friday. Tennessee’s men are ranked No. 12 in the country, while its women are ranked No. 9.
A story from floridagators.com contributed to this report.
Follow Jacob McManamon on Twitter @jmcmanamon97.
Caeleb Dressel showed off in front of a sell-out crowd on Senior Day, winning the 100-yard butterfly by .36 seconds and the 50-yard freestyle by .55 seconds. He was also part of both men's relay wins.
