Florida swim headed to Ocala, Friday to face-off against Florida State. Prior to the meet, Florida’s 1983 and 1984 NCAA National Championship Teams were honored in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Gators winning their first swimming and diving national championships. This meet also marked the Florida men’s and women’s 85th and 51st meet against Florida State.
The UF men’s swim team continued its undefeated record of 7-0 and the women’s team improved to 7-1, coming in first place in 22 of 28 events.
In the women’s 200 medley relay, Florida’s freshman Catie Choate, freshman Molly Mayne, junior Olivia Peoples and junior Micayla Cronk placed first with a time of 1 minute, 37.7 seconds, barely defeating Florida State with a time of 1:37.78.
Florida’s men’s team of senior Adam Chaney, junior Julian Smith, freshman Scotty Buff, and junior Macguire McDuff placed second with a time of 1:26.60.
Florida secured the top four spots on the leaderboard in the women’s 1,000 freestyle with junior Emma Weyant placing comfortably in first with a time of 9:38.64. Freshman Bella Sims placed second, finishing the event in 9:51.41.
Junior Anna Auld placed third, finishing with a time of 9:53.37 while sophomore Camille DeBoer placed fourth, finishing in 10:04.53. For the men’s event, the Gators secured first and second place with junior Aryan Nehra finishing in 9:00.77 followed by junior Ben Cote finishing in 9:06.72.
In both the women’s and men’s 200 free, Florida placed first. In the women’s event, Sims narrowly secured first place, recording a time of 1:47.06, just in front of Florida State freshman Maysa Ratiu who touched the wall at 1:47.42 and Weyant at 1:47.80. Florida senior Jake Mitchell placed first in the men’s 200 free with a time of 1:36.44.
In the women’s 100 back, senior Isabel Ivey and Choate claimed first and second for the Gators, finishing with times of 52.50 and 53.59.
Florida dominated the leaderboard in the men’s event, finishing first-through-fourth within hundredths of seconds. Sophomore Cameron Abaqueta placed first with a time of 47.43, Chaney finished second in 47.48, freshman Caleb Maldari claimed third with a time of 47.50 and freshman Jonny Marshall finished fourth in 47.55.
In the women’s and men’s 100 breast, Florida State secured first place.
The Seminoles placed first and second in the women’s 200 fly, but Florida secured both first and second place in the men’s event with junior Mason Laur and junior Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero finishing in 1:45.63 and 1:46.77.
Cronk placed first for Florida in the women’s 50 free in 22.79, and McDuff earned second place in 20.08.
UF clinched the top three spots in the women’s 100 free. Ivey finished first in 48.69. Cronk and junior Ekaterina Nikonova followed close behind in second and third with times of 49.48 and 49.89. Florida State fifth-year Peter Varjasi finished first in the men’s 100 free with a time of 42.86, right ahead of McDuff with a time of 43.37.
Choate achieved first place in the women’s 200 back, finishing in 1:55.63. In the men’s heat, Maldari and Marshall grabbed first and second place, completing the event in 1:43.72 and 1:46.59.
In the 200 breast, the Seminoles placed first in both the men’s and women’s events.
Florida State finished first in the women’s 500 free after a neck-and-neck finish with Ratiu and Auld, recording a time of 4:52.12 and 4:52.25. Florida freshman Andrew Taylor and senior Jack VanDeusen placed first and second in the men’s event with times of 4:24.05 and 4:28.76.
In another close race, Peoples secured first place for Florida in the women’s 100 fly, finishing in 52.59, right in front of Florida State senior Jenny Halden, finishing just .31 seconds later. The men’s event was also tight with Buff grabbing first place in 47.45 and Florida State’s Tobias Schulrath finishing in 47.94.
Ivey finished first in the women’s 200 IM for Florida in 1:57.32. Laur placed second for Florida in the men’s heat in 1:49.55. Florida also secured third and fourth place with Pinero finishing in 1:49.69 and senior Billy Jones in 1:51.20.
In the men’s and women’s 200 free relay, both races were close, but the Gators pulled through to place first in both events. The women’s relay team with Sims, Isabel Ivey, Nikonova and Cronk finished in 1:31.04 in front of Florida State who finished in 1:31.99. In the men’s event, Chaney, sophomore Edouard Fullum-Hout, Smith and McDuff finished in 1:19.21, just ahead of Florida State who finished in 1:19.75.
Next, the Gators will host the Florida Invite beginning Thursday in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Contact Shaine Davison at sdavison@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @shainedavison.
