UF’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams closed out a successful weekend Sunday at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
Florida’s No. 1 women took home first place after three days of competition, while the No. 6 men finished fifth.
The Invitational marked the final meet of 2019 for some Gators, while others will compete in the U.S. Open in Atlanta on Dec. 4-7.
Here’s what happened over the weekend:
What else is new?
The undefeated women’s team took the momentum from earlier this season into Atlanta.
Florida won the event with 1,211 points, which was 159.5 points ahead of second-place North Carolina.
Leah Braswell, much like the rest of her team, was far ahead of the competition at the McAuley Aquatic Center.
She turned the 1,650 event into a sprint, finishing with the fastest time in the country this year and the third-fastest time in UF history at 15:47.85.
Bella Garofalo, Sherridon Dressel, Emma Ball and Talia Bates took the 400 free relay at 3:15.22, the ninth-fastest time in school history.
Florida also continued its success on the boards in 2019.
Divers Ashley McCool (fifth), Emma Whitner (eighth) and Abigail Howell (10th) all finished within the top 10 in Atlanta.
At half strength
Unlike the women, the men's team was not able to finish as strong, racking up a fifth-place finish over the weekend at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
It was not at full power, however.
Half of the team is preparing for the U.S. Open, so only a select number of swimmers made the trek to Atlanta.
But despite the challenges that presented, Florida was still able to compete strongly and finish first in a few events.
Robert Finke followed Braswell’s lead with a first place finish in the men’s 1,650 on Sunday, finishing with a B-cut at 14:47.51.
Kevin Vargas crushed his opponents in the 400 IM, taking first and finishing 4.5 seconds ahead of his prelim time.
Alex Farrow placed in the top 10 for Florida on the boards, taking ninth with a score of 252 on Sunday.
The Invitational marked the end of competition for most of the team, but some members of the men’s squad will return to Atlanta for the U.S. Open.
Follow Dylan O'Shea on Twitter @dylanoshea24. Contact him at doshea@alligator.org
