The Gators traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, to square off against the Indiana Hoosiers in their season opener.
The dual meet at the Counsilman-Bilingsley Aquatic Center featured the Gators women swim and dive topping the Hoosiers’ women by a score of 170-130. The Florida men’s team fell to the Hoosiers 208-92.
Gators women totaled 11 first-place finishes, while the men came out with two.
The initial top spot for the women came in the 200 medley relay. The Gators squad featuring junior Catie Choate, sophomores Anita Bottazzo, Beatriz Bezerra and Addison Reese, placed first with a time of 1:37.86.
The men were close behind in the same event and finished in second following the Hoosiers. Junior Jonny Marshall, seniors Aleksas Savickas and Josh Liendo and sophomore Alexander Painter grabbed a time of 1:27.04.
Gators women filled the podium with first- through third-place finishes in the 1,000 freestyle. Freshman Julie Brousseau finished in 9:55.79, sophomore Gracie Weyant finished shortly after at 10:06.66, and senior Camille Deboer came in third among the group with a time of 10:07.50.
In the Men’s 1,000 freestyle, Indiana took the top spot. The Gators men came close with both second and third. Senior Gio Linscheer finished with a time of 9:16.66, and senior Eric Brown with 9:17.21.
The Gators dominated in the 200 freestyle on both sides. In the women’s race, junior Lainy Kruger finished first with a time of 1:48.37 and junior Jojo Ramey took second with a 1:49.99 time.
The men also found themselves in first with freshman Ahmed Jaouadi finishing with a time of 1:37.42.
Choate took second in the Women’s 100 backstroke at 52.43. On the men’s side, Marshall found himself in third at 48.38.
Gators women controlled the 100 breaststroke. First place was Bottazzo with a time of 59.07. In second place, senior Anna Moore finished in 1:03.10. Wrapping up the podium and close behind was junior Molly Mayne at 1:03.32. The 0:00.22 difference between Moore and Mayne was the tightest top-three finish of the day for the Gators.
The women saw similar success in the 200 fly with Kruger coming in first with a time of 1:59.44 and Reese in second at 2:00.69.
On the men’s side, Painter grabbed second place in the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.32.
In the Men’s 100 freestyle, junior Devin Dilger also placed second with a 43.64 time.
The fastest three finishes of the women’s 200 backstroke went to the Gators. Choate in first at 1:54.66, Ramey in second with a time of 1:58.14, and senior Zoe Dixon came in third in 1:58.58.
For the Men’s 200 backstroke, Marshall placed third at 1:47.03.
The Gators grabbed first and third place in the 200 Breaststroke. Junior Grace Rainey was first with a time of 2:16.00 and Mayne in third at 2:16.83.
The Gators women swept the podium once more in the 500 Freestyle. Brousseau came in first for the second instance of the meet with a time of 4:51.00. Weyant placed second at 4:48.94. Deboue finished third at 5:01.07
In the Men’s 500 Freestyle, they nearly matched the women’s race success. Joauadi came in second at 4:23.43, while Brown placed third at 4:30.77
Bezerra and Bottazzo finished second and third, respectively, in the Women’s 100 Butterfly. Bezerra ended with a time of 53.86 with Bottazzo close behind at 54.62.
Junior Scotty Buff placed second in the Men’s 100 Butterfly with a time of 48.10.
The sole top-three finisher for the Gators in the 200 IM on either side was freshman Grace Rabb. She finished just shy of two minutes at 1:59.56
Closing out the swimming competitions was the Women’s 400 free relay. A team of Brousseau, Choate, freshman Sylvia Statkevicius and Kruger finished second with a time of 3:23.98.
The Men’s team composed of Dilger, Liendo, Painter and Buff took the top spot with a time of 2:54.63.
Freshman Maria Garcia placed first in both the Women’s 1-meter and 3-meter diving. She scored 308.48 in each. Finishing third in the same categories was junior Camyla Monroy with a score of 284.33 in each.
Sophomore Jesus Gonzalez placed second in the Men’s 1-meter diving with 288.08.
The Gators will face the Virginia Cavaliers on Oct. 10 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium.
Contact Riley Orovitz at rorovitz@alligator.org. Follow her on X @rileyorovitz
Riley is a sophomore sports journalism student and is the swim & dive beat reporter for Fall 2025 in her first semester with The Alligator. In her free time, she may be watching past Miami Dolphins or Florida Panthers highlights or hanging out with her friends.
