Chalk up another Southeastern conference victory for the Florida men’s and women’s swimming and diving team (M: 2-0, 2-0 SEC; W: 3-0, 3-0 SEC) as the men’s team beat Kentucky (M: 0-2, 0-2 SEC; W: (1-1, 1-1 SEC) by a score of 164-128 while the women won 161-137 in Lexington, Ky.
The Gators came out winning the first 10 events of the meet, led by junior Jessica Thielmann, who won two of the first five events, the 1000-yard freestyle (9:52.38) and 200-yard free style (1:49.15). Thielmann would later go on to claim the 400-yard individual medley (4:21.49) ousting Kentucky’s Danielle Galyer by almost five seconds.
Also on the women’s side, junior Lindsey McKnight continued her strong start to the season by winning two individual events while contributing to the first event of the meet, when the Gators won the 400 yard medley relay.
For the UF men, sophomore Jack Blyzinskyj impressed on the road, claiming the 100-yard backstroke (50.01) and 100-yard butterfly (49.84). The Weston, Massachusetts native also helped the Gators claim the 400-yard medley in the meet’s second event. Both victories for the men and the women meant the Gators not only remained perfect on this short season so far, but they also remained unbeaten against the Wildcats all-time. Last night’s victory put UF at a combined 27-0 lifetime versus Kentucky (M: 15-0, W: 12-0).
This makes two consecutive SEC teams in as many meets that the Gators have remained unbeaten all-time against, after last week’s win over the Tigers of LSU. As for individual events, Florida claimed first place in all four backstroke races against Kentucky. For the women only, they captured all three sprint events, as Natalie Hinds, Sinead Russell, and Jessica Thielmann took the 50, 100, and 200 yard free styles, respectively. It was an overall team victory for both the men’s and women’s squad, winning yet another SEC battle with another one coming up in a couple weeks.
““I’m very proud of how well both teams handled a very challenging week of training, and then came out here and raced so well,” said coach Gregg Troy in a release. “I’m especially pleased with how many people responded to the adversity of some sickness. No excuses, just a real focus tonight and some tough racing.”
The Gators next meet will be in Athens, Ga. on Halloween to take on the SEC rival Bulldogs.
Follow Aaron Friedland on Twitter @aafriedland
