One of the NCAA’s best female swimmers was on display in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday.
Freshman phenom Missy Franklin, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, and the Golden Bears hosted the Gators on Day 1 of both teams’ two-day meet. Through 13 events, California leads Florida 135-108.
After winning the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Sportswoman of the Year award on Wednesday – beating out tennis’ world No. 1 Serena Williams – Franklin excelled in her three events, picking up victories across the board and winning her two individual events by a combined 9.63 seconds.
The meet opened up with the 400-yard medley relay and Franklin leading off with a 53.90 second 100-yard backstroke split. She beat Florida’s Lindsey McKnight (1:48.07) – who out touched Cal’s Camille Cheng by 0.01 seconds for second place – by 2.88 seconds in the 200-yard free, and left the field in the 500-yard free after coming in at 4:45.40 – 6.75 seconds ahead of second place senior Alicia Mathieu.
Although the Gators took third in the 400-yard medley relay, their time of 3:41.83 was good enough for the third-fastest swim in the event this season. Cal notched the top two relays in the country with times of 3:40.48 and 3:41.00.
“Our goal going into the regular season was to swim against some of the nation’s top programs. [Sunday], we are going to have to be better,” coach Gregg Troy said. “I think that they exposed some of our weaknesses a little bit depth wise. At the same time, I am extremely well in how we competed.”
Sophomore Natalie Hinds swept the sprints, breaking under 23 seconds for the first time this year in the 50-yard freestyle (22.82 seconds) and touching at 49.67 seconds in the 100-yard free.
But the 200-yard individual medley was the race of the day. Senior Elizabeth Beisel (1:58.29) – Franklin’s teammate at the 2012 Olympics – finished third behind Cal’s 2013 NCAA Champion Elizabeth Pelton (1:57.48) and Celina Li (1:58.18) in a photo finish.
The Gators were strong in the distance event grabbing the top five spots in the 1,000-yard free as Mathieu won the race with a time of 9:53.37.
Diving was another strong spot for UF as it scored 29 out of a possible 38 points. The Gators went 1-2-3 in the 1-meter springboard where sophomore Emily Mosher posted a career-best score of 281.63. Sophomore Kahlia Warner added to her third-place finish on the 1-meter boards with a win on the 3-meter, scoring 310.20 points.
“The divers were very good [Saturday], which helps us a lot in the scores,” Troy said. “Overall, it was a good day. We need to come out and be extremely good [Sunday].”
Troy’s team has 11 events remaining to make up the 27-point deficit when action resumes Sunday morning at 9 a.m.
Follow Logan McGuire on Twitter @loganjmcguire.
Florida sophomore Elizabeth Beisel competes in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke during the Gators’ meet against FAU on Jan. 14, 2012 in the O’Connell Center Natatorium.
