On the fifth and final day of the 2013 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, the men started the day in the lead while the women sat in third.
Each finished where they began.
The men finished with 1408 points, breaking Auburn’s 16-year streak as SEC Champions.
With 1190.5 points, the women were outmatched by Georgia, who won it all and Texas A&M, who ended with about 100 points more than the Gators.
Freshman Arthur Frayler, sophomore Carlos Omana and senior Jason Taylor all finished within the top eight of the 1650 free finals. The three Gators contributed to adding 74 points to their team’s score.
Matthew Curby, Brad deBorde and Pawel Werner all competed in the 100 free finals. By the time they had finished competing, another 60 points were being tallied to Florida’s overall score.
Corey Main was about two seconds away from claiming a victory in the 200 back finals, but he fell to Auburn’s Kyle Owens. Main’s 28 points was tacked on to the 47 points put on the board by Florida’s Cameron Martin and Connor Signorin.
Florida’s men received even more fire power from Matt Elliott who stole the show in the 200 breaststroke finals. His 32-point-first-place finish was followed by teammate Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez who came in third and was awarded 27 points.
Marcin Cieslak and Sebastien Rousseau were grouped with deBorde and Curby in the 400 free relay team for Florida that finished in second behind Auburn.
The women for Florida were aided by freshman Jessica Theilmann whose second-place showing in the 1650 free finals gave her squad 28 points. Junior Alicia Mathieu took third and earned 26 points.
Natalie Hinds and Ellese Zalewski were unable to overcome the effort from Georgia’s Megan Romano and Allison Schmitt who took first and second in the 100 free finals. Georgia gained 112 points through the 100 free to grow its lead over the competition.
Hilda Lutershottir was unable to place any higher than seventh in the 200 breaststroke, but her effort resulted in 23 points.
Junior Elizabeth Beisel led freshmen Sinead Russell and Ashlee Linn in the 200 back finals. Beisel’s victory contributed 32 of the 88 points that Florida gained from the event. Russell was Beisel’s only competition during the individual event, finishing 44 hundredths of a second after Beisel.
Beisel and Russell would not be done. They teamed up with Hinds and Zalewski to take second in the 400 free finals with a time of 3:13.21, a new school record.
Beisel’s accomplishments earned her the Commissioner’s Trophy (High Point Award) for the second consecutive year.
She was not the only one taking home hardware. Coach Gregg Troy won SEC Coach of the Year, and Natalie Hinds took home SEC Freshman Swimmer of the Year honors.
Both of Florida’s teams will now prepare for the Bulldog Last Chance Meet in Athens, Ga., on March 1.
UF junior Elizabeth Beisel speaks to her teammates at the All Florida Invitational at the O'Connell Center in 2012.
