After Saturday’s 179-121 win on the road over No. 18 Tennessee, the No. 2 Florida’s men’s swimming and diving team (8-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) extended its dual meet win streak to 23 — a stretch that spans the past three regular seasons.
Florida’s flight to Tennessee on Friday morning was canceled, and the team hopped on a bus for the 10-hour trek to Knoxville, Tenn. But the weekend’s real drama came during the eighth-ranked Florida women’s team’s (5-3, 3-2 SEC) conference matchup that was decided by the narrowest of margins.
Down the stretch, the Gators rallied.
Three events remained as sophomore Delaney Dye helped bridge the 17-point gap with a win on the one-meter springboard. Fellow sophomore Lindsey McKnight was at the forefront of the 1-2-3-4 finish for Florida that ensued in the 200-yard individual medley, which put her team ahead late.
With the Gator women holding a five-point lead entering the final event, the No. 12 Lady Vols (8-1, 4-1 SEC) showed they still had the makeup of the third-place finisher at NCAA Championships they were a year ago.
Tennessee out-touched Florida by more than a second to win the 400-yard freestyle relay, and junior Molly Dubrasky was called for a false start on UF’s “B” relay, ending Florida’s hopes of saving a tie in Knoxville in the 152-148 loss.
It was only the second time Florida has fallen to Tennessee in the schools’ 28 matchups.
But for the Florida men, it was business as usual.
Senior Marcin Cieslak, redshirt senior Sebastien Rousseau and juniors Dan Wallace and Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez – solid scorers for Florida all season – didn’t even swim the max number of events against Tennessee (5-4, 3-2 SEC).
The Gators will enjoy some time off from competition before the SEC Championships begin on Feb. 18 in Athens, Ga.
Follow Logan McGuire on Twitter @loganjmcguire
