On the second day of the All Florida Invitational, the Gators used 15 victories in the pool to maintain its first place position.
The women entered Saturday with a 116 point lead, and the men came in with 58 point lead. Thanks to 33 top-three finishes, the women have more than doubled their lead and the men have extended their lead to 213 points.
In her first collegiate meet, freshman Sinead Russell had a stand out performance as she accounted for four of the women’s seven victories. Russell took home two individual titles in the 200-yard free and the 100-yard back, as well as swimming the first leg of the 200-yard medley relay and anchored the 800-yard free relay for two more wins.
Backing up Russell’s win in the 200 free and 100 back, were Elizabeth Beisel, Natalie Hinds and Jamie Bohunicky, who helped the Gators sweep the top-three spots in both races.
Hilda Luthersdottir, Rebecca Rainer and Hinds rounded out Florida’s victories with a first-place finish in the 100-yard breast, 400-yard IM, respectively and 100-yard butterfly.
The men had similar success, as they swept the first three spots in the 100 back, 100 breast, 200 free and 400 IM. The men narrowly missed this feat in the 100 butterfly by claiming only first and second place.
Marcin Cieslak led the men as he grabbed three first-place finishes. Cieslak had an individual win in the 100 butterfly, and helped the men win its two relays by swimming the third leg in the 200-yard medley and anchoring the 800-yard free.
Matt Elliott, Christian Homer and Sebastien Rousseau all followed Cieslak’s example by winning multiple events. Elliott grabbed a win in 100 breast and Homer finished first in the 100 back, while they both contributed to the win in the 200-yard medley relay. Rousseau won an individual title in the 400 IM, as well as swam the third leg of the Gators’ winning 800-yard free relay team.
In addition to dominating the competition, Florida also solidified nine total individual NCAA ‘B’ cuts with four coming from the women and five on the men’s side.
Competition will wrap up Sunday starting at 9 a.m. with prelims, and finals will follow at 4 p.m.
