Welcome to the top of the mountain, Anita Bottazzo.
The No. 10 Gators women’s swim and dive team came just short of notching second place in the Southeastern Championships in Knoxville.
The Gators came out of SEC’s with 1,015.5 total points.
While Florida trailed Tennessee by 70.5 points and Texas by 398, the Gators remained victorious when it was all said and done, even if it wasn’t in the final standings.
Bottazzo, a sophomore out of Venice, Italy, headlined the group throughout the week.
She secured two gold medals, one in the 100-meter breaststroke and the other in the 200-meter breaststroke.
Bottazzo became the first Gator to notch first place in the former since Caroline Burckle in 2007. She is just the seventh Florida swimmer to win the event.
The three-time All-American had a standout freshman campaign, setting the then-program record in the 100-meter butterfly at the University of Georgia Fall Invitational on Nov. 21, 2024. Bottazzo’s time of 57.11 this week crushed her prior time of 57.49 in Athens.
Her gold-medal finish on day three of SEC’s slotted her in the NCAA Championships and earned the program its first gold of the meet.
Bottazzo also found herself setting two top-10 program times alongside four other swimmers.
Sophomore Beatriz Bezerra and juniors Catie Choate and Lainy Kruger joined Bottazzo in a 1:35.81 time in the 200-meter medley. While the mark fell short of the podium, the group made Florida history.
Choate won a gold medal in the 200-meter backstroke, becoming just the 12th swimmer in Florida history to win the event. Her 1:49.94 time reached fourth all-time and marked her first sub-1:50.00 swim of her three-year career.
“I feel so grateful and am smiling so much from all the hugs,” Choate said. “I love being a Florida Gator, and I am so thankful for this.”
Bottazzo, Choate, Bezerra and freshman Grace Rabb also finished with the No. 3 best time at UF. The squad finished the 400-meter medley with a time of 3:27.69.
Rabb earned her first SEC silver medal in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke. The Dripping Springs, Texas, native also notched two top-10 program times — 52:03 in the 100-meter fly and 2:08.48 in the 200-meter breaststroke.
Another highlight of Florida’s medal-heavy slate was diver Camyla Monroy.
She went back-to-back in the women’s platform dive, capturing the title for the second time in her career. Monroy set the new program record for the event, grabbing a score of 350.7.
The former record-holder? Monroy herself. She set the initial mark in 2024 after she won her first title in the event. Monroy became the first Gator to win the event multiple times.
The junior has been excellent in league play ahead of the SEC Championships, already becoming the 2025 Women’s 1-meter Champion. Monroy is also an All-American in the event.
“I had two hard days on springboard, so I am just very happy to get this event,” she said. “I just try to have a positive mindset and tell myself that I have done it a million times in practice.”
Bottazzo, Choate and Monroy made up the four total gold medals the Florida women secured, with Rabb grabbing the sole silver among the team.
The 800-meter freestyle relay team of Kruger, sophomore Julie Brousseau, junior JoJo Ramey and freshman Sylvia Statkevicious nabbed the No. 10 top time amongst the program at 6:59.86.
Anna Moore’s times in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke each solidified her in the top-10 program times. The 5-foot-7 Florida native was on the 2025 SEC Community Service Team ahead of her senior campaign.
Gators diving will be back in action on March 8-11 in Athens, competing at NCAA Diving Zones. Florida swimming will take part in the NCAA Championships on March 18-21.
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 Gymnastics and Swim & Dive while also contributing 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.
