The Florida men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams finished up their second consecutive road dual-meet on Saturday in Austin, Texas, where the teams took on the defending national champions Texas and Big-10 opponent, Indiana.
Over the course of the two-day competition, the No. 1 men’s squad split a win and a loss, dropping a 162-100 set to Texas before defeating Indiana 140-122.
The 13th-ranked women’s team lost both sets, first to Texas, 155-105, and then to Indiana, 142-120.
"I thought we were mentally tough, there was no quit in the team," Martin Wilby, one of the women’s team coaches, said.
"We started off both meets slow, and we were amazed to fight our way back into the dual-meets.
"Just because of, not an excuse, but because of injuries and sickness over a two day meet. It was hard for us to juggle the lineup of people who could swim different events, and still have depth in the lineup."
Wilby commended seniors Ashlee Linn and Kahlia Warner, along with junior Taylor Katz, for their solid performances over the weekend.
Warner, a native of Queenstown, Australia, posted NCAA Diving Standard scores for her performances in the one and three meter boards, earning respective scores of 293.25 and 324.10.
She also took first place off the platform on Saturday during the exhibition portion of the competition.
As a result of her performance, Warner was named the Southeastern Conference Diver of the Week, her first distinction of the 2015-16 campaign and the fourth of her career.
"I’m real happy for Kahlia, this was the second weekend in a row where she dove an outstanding meet," diving coach Dale Schultz said.
"She competed well and battled throughout the weekend. She trains hard in practice and it’s paying off during the meets. It’s good to see her compete well and leave it all out there during her final year."
On the men’s side, associate coach Anthony Nesty was impressed with the performances of seniors Arthur Frayler, Pawel Werner and Corey Main, who were fast throughout the entire meet.
All-American sophomore Caeleb Dressel had a huge showing as well, finishing first in the 50 free with a time of 19.36 seconds.
He was also the runner-up in the 100 free, posting a 43.70-second performance.
"Caeleb Dressel had a fantastic meet," said Nesty. "He is obviously one of our best athletes here at UF. He beat the national champion in the 100-fly."
The Gators return home for the first time since the All-Florida Invitational for an Oct. 30th matchup against Southeastern Conference rival Georgia.
Florida’s men’s team lost to the Bulldogs 174.5-122.5 in Athens. While the women lost 176-119.
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Khalia Warner competes on the three-meter dive during UF's win against Arkansas in the O'Connell Center.
