For the first time in over a year, Florida’s swimming and diving teams had a home meet at the O’Connell Center.
Due to an eight-month renovation process, the Gators were unable to access the facility and had to compete in 10 consecutive team road meets to start the season.
But Saturday, UF welcomed SEC rival Tennessee to Gainesville.
The men’s team won 183-117 and improved its win streak to four. The women’s team, meanwhile, lost its second-straight meet, falling to Tennessee 151-149.
“It felt great to be back,” Samuel Smith said. “The crowd was awesome. It’s something we haven’t really experienced at all this year.”
Jack Blyzinskyj — who was one of seven seniors the Gators honored on Saturday — won both the 100-back and 200-back.
“Our seniors were great today,” head coach Gregg Troy said. “Their leadership has been fantastic all year.”
Junior Caeleb Dressel, meanwhile, continued his impressive season, winning the 50-free, the 200-free and the 200 IM. Dressel was also a part of the Gators’ winning 200 Medley Relay A-team, which also consisted of Jack Blyzinskyj, Chandler Bray and Jan Switkowski.
Also notching victories for the Gators were Maxime Rooney (100-free), Stanley Wu (100-breast), Mark Szaranek (200-fly), Chandler Bray (200-stroke), Drew Clark (500-free) and Jan Switkowski (100-fly).
Looking forward to the SEC Championship meet in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Feb. 14, Florida’s men’s team remains confident.
“I think we’re trying to stay humble and level-headed with it all,” Smith said. “Just treating the wins as something we should be doing and not letting it get too big.”
Florida’s women’s team, though, took a blow against the Volunteers.
Heading into the meet’s last event (400-free relay), it held a slim lead. However, Tennessee went on to win the event, out-touching the Gators A-team by 1.61 seconds to secure the victory.
“We lost a couple of races on just a touch,” Troy said. “We still have a long way to go.”
Earning 18 points for the Gators on the springboard events, Brooke Madden won both the 1-meter (308.85) and the 3-meter (326.55) dives.
Taylor Katz won the 200-fly with a time of 1:59.70.
And freshman Kelly Fertel won the 200-stroke, out-touching her Gator teammate, Hannah Burns, by 1.26 seconds.
Once riding a three-meet winning streak, Saturday’s loss is the women’s team’s second in a row.
“The women need to keep on improving,” Troy said. “We’re certainly not going to be the favorite at the conference meet.”
Contact Sean Denison at sdenison@alligator.org or follow him on Twitter @seandenison
UF coach Gregg Troy encourages his swimmers during Florida’s meet against Auburn on Jan. 23, 2016, in the O’Connell Center.
