Senior Conor Dwyer wasn’t able to repeat his national 500-yard freestyle title, but he still grabbed the best finish of the day for the Gators.
The Gators finished Day 1 of the NCAA 2011 Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships in seventh with 70 points.
UF coach Gregg Troy said Dwyer came in third (4:15.55) because of pacing issues.
“Conor, in the finals, maybe overswam the front end of the race a little bit,” Troy said
Troy said he was disappointed in a few of the day’s races, but he was thrilled with freshman Marcin Cieslak’s sixth-place finish (1:43.69) in the 200 individual medley.
Sophomore Sebastien Rousseau missed the “A” finals in the event but finished 10th overall with a personal-best time of 1:44.24.
“We had a couple of disappointments with some races we thought we’d be better in,” Troy said. “But by the same token, Cieslak and Rousseau did tremendous in the 200 IM.”
Cieslak said he is honored to have placed in the finals at NCAAs in his freshman season.
“It is very humbling to be an All-American my first year in the United States,” he said. “We really want tomorrow to come so we can improve where we are.”
The 200 free relay team also missed the “A” finals, with the team of freshman Brad deBorde, sophomore Scott Sommer, redshirt sophomore Marco Loughran and junior James Turner taking 15th overall (1:19.12).
In the night’s other relay, the 400 medley, the team of Cieslak, Dwyer, Loughran and senior Brett Fraser took fourth place (3:06.81).
“We had a good relay at the end, so we’re going to put the pieces back together and get it started back again tomorrow,” Troy said.
No. 5 Florida goes into Day 2 of competition, which starts today at noon, four points behind Virginia. No. 4 Texas stands in first with 139 points.
