Despite a Day 2 comeback fueled by a trio of wins from senior Elizabeth Beisel, the Gator women suffered their first loss of this young season at the hands of Missy Franklin and California.
The Golden Bears won 238-210 in Berkeley, Calif., on Sunday.
Franklin finished third in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:03.94) – trailing UF’s Danielle Valley (9:53.64) by more than 10 seconds – and placed second in the 500-yard free with a swim of 4:50.84, just under five seconds off Beisel’s pace of 4:45.91. Franklin, however, was impressive in the 400-yard free relay. She led off with a 49.85 second split on her leg – the fastest in the field – as her relay went on to win the event. It was one of only four events Cal won on the second day of competition.
Florida won the first five events on Sunday, overcoming a 27-point deficit to lead 170-166 at the first break. But the Gators would only win two of the remaining six events.
Among the Gators’ seven Day 2 wins was the fastest 400-yard individual medley time in the NCAA this year – Beisel’s 4:09.54 swim. She also won the 200-yard free (1:48.15) to go 3 for 3 on Sunday.
“Elizabeth always takes the toughest assignments, and she raced world class athletes and was world class [Sunday],” coach Gregg Troy said. “[Saturday], she was second or third in three close races. [Sunday], she won everything that she swam a really tough triple. There are not many people on the planet that can do what she did [Sunday].”
Sophomore Natalie Hinds was 0.04 seconds away from sweeping the sprint events in the two-day meet. She won the 50-and 100-yard free on Saturday.
Hinds put in a 23.09 second, first-place 50-yard free on Sunday and was out-touched by Cal’s Elizabeth Pelton 49.96 seconds to 50 seconds in Sunday’s 100-yard free.
In another closely contested race, Sinead Russell (54.41 seconds) claimed first in the 100-yard backstroke, beating out Cal’s Stephanie Au (54.45 seconds) and Cindy Tran (54.57).
“We came out and every race was contested, and we won our share of them against a really good Cal team,” Troy said. “We gained a lot of experience this weekend and found out that we can swim with the best people. I never like losing, but this is one where we won the day and looked tremendous.”
Follow Logan McGuire on Twitter @loganjmcguire.
Senior Ellese Zalewski competes in the women's 100 fly at the Pinch a Penny All-Florida Invitation at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on Sept. 28
