Florida swim continued its reign of dominance against the No. 14/12 LSU Tigers on Friday. The No. 5/8 Gators brought home 19 first-place finishes across both men’s and women’s events.
The dual meet marked the first among the programs since the 2018-19 season. Friday’s result continued a legacy for the Gators, improving the men’s advantage to 26-0 and the women’s to 16-0 when facing the Tigers.
Friday was Florida’s first appearance since the Georgia Fall Invitational on Nov. 21. The invite brought a third consecutive Gators sweep, along with 69 NCAA qualifying times. Florida topped three SEC programs on its way to the victory in Athens — UGA, LSU and Alabama.
Florida’s eight seniors honored prior to Friday’s meet all contributed to the win. Josh Liendo continued his strong senior campaign and picked up a first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle and a second-place finish in the 100-yard fly. Liendo’s 13 individual points contributed to the men’s 156-105 victory.
He came into the meet ranked No. 1 nationally in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard fly. He is also ranked No. 2 in the 100-yard freestyle. The Scarborough, Canada, native is a two-time Olympian and a 19-time All-American at Florida.
Liendo kicked off his collegiate career as a member of the Southeastern Conference Championship-winning team in 2023 and was the only freshman to win an individual national title at the NCAA Championships.
The senior’s legacy continued to grow as he earned SEC Male Freshman Swimmer of the Year in 2023 and SEC Male Swimmer of the Year in 2024.
While Liendo has headlined the Gators’ roster for four seasons, Gio Linscheer has also stood out.
The 6-foot-4 senior has notched seven All-American accolades and won both of his individual events against LSU. Linscheer picked up first in the men’s 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. The latter was narrowly won with a time of 25.18. Right behind Linscheer came Florida senior Eric Brown at 24.87.
Brown also filled the statsheet in the SEC matchup. He placed first in both the men’s 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley. He has also carried a legacy at Florida, both in the pool and in the classroom. Brown was the recipient of Florida’s Swimming & Diving 2025 Academic Award.
Zoe Dixon, Camille DeBoer and Anna Moore represented the trio of Florida seniors on the women’s team.
While Dixon did not compete against LSU, she is coming off a notable junior season. Dixon was the recipient of the 2024 Skip Foster Florida Swim & Dive Award, given to the team’s most valuable swimmer.
She is a three-time All-American and was named to the 2024 All-SEC second team and 2023 All-SEC Freshman Team.
DeBoer, a Florida native, found the podium in each of her events against the Tigers. She placed second in the women’s 1,000-yard freestyle and third in the 500-yard freestyle. DeBoer was just 0.29 short of a second-place finish in the latter.
While Friday celebrated the upperclassmen on Florida’s roster, the younger swimmers also were a factor.
The Gators opened the dual meet with a women’s 200-yard medley relay win, headlined by three underclassmen. Sophomores Anita Bottazzo and Addison Reese and freshman Beatriz Bezerra followed junior Catie Choate in the first-place finish.
Sophomore Julie Brousseau finished the meet with two firsts and a second-place finish in her three events. Second-year counterpart Aiden Norman also stood out in the win. The 6-foot-7 Canada native totaled 17 individual points in his events.
The Gators will be back on the road to take on the No. 15/13 Auburn Tigers on Jan. 16 at noon at the James E. Aquatics Center.
Contact Riley Orovitz at rorovitz@alligator.org. Follow her on X @rileyorovitz.
Riley is a sophomore sports journalism student in her second semester at The Alligator. She is the beat reporter for Gators Swim & Dive while also contrubuting to the Gators Football Beat. She previously served in the same role in her first semester with the newspaper. Riley is an avid South Florida sports fan and enjoys playing/following all sports in her free time.
