On Thursday night, the Florida women's swimming team, without its divers, kicked of its first Southeastern Conference meet of the year in Nashville, taking on the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Behind the efforts of its 400-medley relay team and the performance of freshman Mollie Pulte, The top-ranked Gators ended the night with a 193-69 victory over Vanderbilt. The Gators took 13-of-16 events to win its first SEC matchup.
UF started the night with a lead after redshirt sophomores Georgia-Mae Hohmann and Paige Scheriger, junior Alyssa Yambor-Maul, and senior Natalie Hinds swam a collective 3:45.30 in the 400-medley race.
Hinds had a standout performance on the night, scoring a total of 40 points from her 1:49.56 swim in the 200 meter freestyle, and her 54.93 swim in the 100 fly, which won her both races.
Pulte stepped up for Florida showing poise as she won the 100-freestyle, touching out at a time of 51.75.
The women, with their divers this time, will now meet up with the men’s team at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Freeman Aquatic Center to take on No. 7 Minnesota for a dual-competition rematch from last year.
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UF swim coach Gregg Troy watches his team's weight training at an early morning practice in the O'Connell Center on Feb. 7, 2008.
