Florida women’s swim has yet to beat Virginia in the lone three matchups between the programs. But it's a different story for their male counterparts. Gators men swim is undefeated against the Cavaliers in the schools’ four meets.
Both trends were extended Friday.
Florida welcomed the Virginia Cavaliers swimming & diving program for a dual meet Friday. The Gators’ home opener brought the second-straight split between the men’s and women’s teams this season.
Taking down the No. 1 Cavaliers team proved to be a tall task. Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo has led the women’s group to five consecutive national championships. Its 2026 campaign opened with a win in Gainesville.
The Florida Gators women’s team (1-1) lost 224-127 against the Virginia Cavaliers (1-0) while the men’s team (1-1) won 191.5-159.5.
The No. 4 Gators men’s team dominated early with 12 top-three finishes in the opening session of the meet.
Florida finished the Sept. 26 opener with Indiana eight points shy of 100 but posted 191.5 over the No. 13 Virginia men.
To kick off the individual races, Gators freshman Ahmed Jaouadi led all swimmers in the 1000-yard freestyle. The rookie beat opposing racers by over 15 seconds. Following Jaouadi were seniors Gio Linscheer and Eric Brown and sophomore Luke Corey.
Jaouadi has had a strong freshman year, despite being just two meets into the season. The Tunis, Tunisia, native placed in the top three on three separate occasions Friday.
In addition to taking the top spot in the 1000-yard freestyle, Jaouadi finished first in the 500-yard freestyle and second in the 200-yard freestyle.
In the team’s season opener in Bloomington, Indiana, he won the 200-yard freestyle and finished runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle. Jaouadi shone in his Gator debut with 13 points.
Gators women also found success in the 1000-yard freestyle. Sophomore Julie Brousseau came out on top with a time of 9:25.50.
Similar to Jaouadi, junior Jonny Marshall has come to play this year. He opened the season with a second-place and two third-place finishes over Indiana. On Friday, the upperclassman from Akron, Ohio, earned a third-place and two first-place finishes in individual races.
While Florida finished second in both the men’s and women’s 400-yard medley relay, the latter made history while doing so.
The UF A-team, composed of juniors Catie Choate and Lainy Kruger, sophomore Anita Bottazzo and freshman Bia Bezerra, finished with a time of 3:28.67. The four women completed the race in the third-fastest time in program history.
The men’s relay team barely came up short against UVA in the same race. Marshall and junior Scotty Buff, senior Aleksas Savickas and sophomore Devin Dilger missed first place by 0:00.47.
During the meet’s diving session, Maria Garcia continued to excel. The freshman was named SEC Women’s Diver of the Week on Sept. 30. In her second collegiate outing, she scored 347.63 in the women’s 3-meter. The total exceeded her former best of 308.48. Garcia also topped her 1-meter debut score by 53.32.
Kruger was also awarded her first accolade of the season. The redshirt sophomore was named SEC Women’s Co-Swimmer of the Week. She posted 18 points in the victory over Indiana and picked up a second-place finish in today's 200-meter fly and third place in the 200-yard freestyle.
Sophomore Jesus Gonzalez generated his greatest score of 2025 in both the 1- and 3-meter dives. He totaled 352.28 in the 1-meter and 385.20 in the 3-meter. Both scores exceeded any Florida diver spanning the last two meets.
The Florida men’s team went full throttle in the second swim session of the day. It took home 15 top-three placements in the final nine individual events.
Most notably was the 500-yard freestyle. Florida filled the podium with Gators, placing first through fourth. Jaouadi finished at 4:14.94, Brown in second place at 4:19.44, senior Charlie Hutchison in third at 4:20.32 and Corey in fourth at 4:26.72.
The Gators saw 13 total top-three women’s placements and 28 on the men’s side.
Up next, Florida will host the No. 9/12 Georgia Bulldogs Oct. 30 for diving and Oct. 31 for swimming 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.
