Coming into his first collegiate meet, freshman Matt Elliott wasn’t sure what to expect.
“I’ve been practicing really hard and I’ve been feeling pretty good, but I still wasn’t sure how I would do,” Elliott said.
After a stunning weekend performance that included three individual wins and another second-place finish at the All-Florida Invitational, Elliott has a better idea of where he stands.
Elliott opened his college career with a second-place result in the 200 individual medley (1:48.75) on Friday, emerged victorious in the 400 IM (3:50.96) and the 100 breaststroke (55.64) on Saturday and capped his weekend with a dominant win in the 200 breaststroke (1:59.06), defeating freshman teammate Eduardo Solaeche by nearly five seconds.
“I like to race, and my teammates have been pushing me this year, so it was a lot of fun to go out there and battle and come out on top in a couple,” Elliott said.
Three other Gators men took home victories on Sunday: sophomores Connor Signorin, Brad deBorde, and Marcin Cieslak. Signorin won the 200 backstroke (1:48.87), deBorde triumphed in the 100 freestyle (45.03) and Cieslak came away with a win in the 200 fly (1:47.31).
To fill in some of the holes that he saw in the squad, coach Gregg Troy made it clear earlier in the week he was hoping for standout performances on the women’s side by untested swimmers.
“We’re going to have to get some improvements from last year’s sophomore class and depend on some freshman,” Troy said last week.
He may have found a freshman ready to fill some of those holes in Rebecca Rainer. In her first collegiate meet Rainer finished second in the 400 IM (4:19.20) and third in the 100 breaststroke on Saturday(1:04.04), and on Sunday she won the 200 breaststroke (2:14.86).
Sunday’s win was a particularly impressive performance because Rainer took down sophomore teammate Elizabeth Beisel, who is considered to be the best swimmer in her class.
Although she finished behind Rainer in the 200 breaststroke, Beisel won an event herself on Sunday, taking home the grueling 1,650-meter freestyle.
The other Florida victories came from senior leaders Teresa Crippen and Sarah Bateman.
Crippen won the 200 backstroke (1:57.32) and the 200 fly (1:58.54), while Bateman took home the 100 freestyle (50.06).
Although the Florida men and women swept away the competition in the All-Florida Invitational, they will face a much stiffer opponent when they face off with LSU in the O’Connell Center on Saturday.
