Sophomore Caeleb Dressel and senior Kahlia Warner have been the two most consistent competitors for UF’s swimming and diving teams through the first three days of the Southeastern Conference championship meet.
Dressel, who brought the national spotlight upon himself Wednesday by breaking multiple records in the 50-yard freestyle, earned his fourth overall victory of the SEC meet Thursday evening. Warner, who captured her first victory on Tuesday in the 1-meter diving competition, continued her perfect week in Columbia, Missouri, by capturing her second overall victory in the 3-meter dive.
Heading into the Day 3 events, the men’s team needed another consistent performance to maintain its overall lead over the nine other SEC teams.
With two total podium finishes — one of which was a first-place finish — in their three events Thursday evening, the Gators sustained their consistency.
Dressel’s 44.80-second time in the 100-yard butterfly was good enough to land the No. 5-ranked UF men’s team their first and only victory of the evening, besting LSU’s Logan Rysemus by 0.79 seconds.
In the 400-yard individual medley, sophomore Mark Szaranek, who trailed the leaders by nearly three seconds at one point, rallied at the end to finish second with a time of 3:41.88, 1.55 seconds behind Georgia’s Jay Litherland.
After three days of competition, the Gators have 723 points. That score is strong enough to maintain their lead over No. 6 Auburn by 54.
With zero victories and only one podium finish in the first six swimming events of the SEC meet, the No. 9-ranked women’s team desperately needed to find some success in the pool on Thursday. But success, once again, eluded them.
Despite Warner’s strong performance on the diving boards, the team’s swimmers struggled to find momentum on Thursday. In their three races, the women’s team captured no victories and zero podium finishes.
Sophomore Amelia Maughan gave the women’s team their highest racing finish, placing fourth in the 200-yard freestyle.
Senior Natalie Hinds, who has been the team’s top racer all season, has struggled to find her stride at the SEC meet. With a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, the Midland, Texas, native has yet to win a race or get to the podium in any of her individual events in this year’s conference meet.
With two days remaining, the women’s team currently sits fourth in the overall standings with 426 total points, 231.5 points behind No. 5 Texas A&M, the overall leader.
Day 4 of the SEC championship meet begins today at 10 a.m.
Contact Sean Doty at sdoty@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @TheRealSeanDoty.
Khalia Warner dives during Florida’s meet against Auburn on Jan. 23, 2016, in the O’Connell Center.
