The Florida women’s team finished third in the women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. It was the program’s best finish in 14 years.
The competition began with the 200-yard medley relay and 800 freestyle relay Wednesday. Junior Aris Runnels, freshman Molly Mayne, junior Olivia Peoples and junior Micayla Cronk placed third in the 200 with a time of one minute, 31.58 seconds. This was the best recorded time since 2014 and all swimmers earned All-American honors.
In the 800, freshman Bella Sims, senior Isabel Ivey, junior Emma Weyant and junior Micayla Cronk placed first with a time of 6:48.59 seconds, setting a new program and pool record.
Thursday started off with swimming time trials where five swimmers advanced to the finals. In the 500 free, Sims and Weyant finished first and second, completing the event in 4:32.47 and 4:33.70 seconds, respectively. Sims earned Florida’s first national title in the event since 2008.
In the 200-yard IM, Ivey earned second with a time of 1:51.96 seconds, and Dixon placed eighth in 1:54.27 seconds.
Freshman Camyla Monroy and Junior Carina Lumia both competed in the 1-meter diving preliminaries. Only Monroy advanced to the finals, placing seventh with a score of 281.10 points.
In Friday’s finals, Weyant swam a personal best in the 400 IM, placing second in 3:59.00 seconds. It was also the program’s second-best time. Dixon recorded her best NCAA finish time in the event in 4:04.93, placing seventh.
Peoples placed sixth in the 100 fly, finishing in 50.93 seconds.
Sims earned first in the 200 free in 1:40.90 seconds, raking in her second individual national title.
In the 3-meter springboard event, Monroy and Lumia didn’t advance to finals, placing 20th and 33rd.
In the last event Friday night, the 400 medley relay, Florida’s team of Sims, Mayne, Peoples and Ivey finished strong by placing fourth with a time of 3:25.64 seconds.
On Saturday, four swimmers qualified for the 200 back finals. Sims ended her freshman season with a first-place finish, completing the event in 1:48.47 seconds.
Ivey placed third in the 100 free with a time of 46.67.
Monroy placed 40th in the women’s platform preliminaries, failing to qualify for the finals.
In the 400 free relay, Florida placed second with a time of 3:08.60.
The NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships will take place in Indianapolis, Indiana, beginning Wednesday.
Contact Shaine Davison at sdavison@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @shainedavison.
