The first day of the All-Florida Invitational took place on Friday at the O’Connell Center, with the UF swimming and diving team competing against Miami and FSU. This is the first meet of the season for the Gators, and the night was filled with ups and downs as both the men's and women's teams returned to competition.
The men fared well in their debut, coming into the event looking to repeat its first place finish in last year’s event. Senior Jan Switkowski, a Lublin, Poland, native, won both the 500 freestyle and 200 IM, with times of 4:25.04 and 1:48.93, respectively.
Senior Caeleb Dressel, the 21-time All American who won two gold medals at the Rio Summer Olympics in 2016, placed first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 19.21.
Gator men also did well as a team; they were victorious in the 200 relay and the 400 medley relay. The 200 relay featured Switkowski, Enzo Martinez Scarpe, Caeleb Dressel and Mark Szaranek, who finished with a time of 1:19.26 and the 400 medley featured Clark Beach and Chandler Bray along with Switkowski and Dressel, who finished with a time of 3:17.13.
Dressel had the fastest start during the 200 relay, swimming a 19.10, 11 seconds faster than his individual time during the 50 free relay.
While the women’s team also placed first in last year’s event, it was ACC rival FSU that won the night on the women’s side, winning both the 200 relay and the 400 Medley relay.
On top of that, Florida State’s Lexi Smith, the fastest female swimmer of the night, emerged victorious in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.03.
However, Florida did not leave the event completely defeated, as Savanna Faulconer placed first in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:52.34, and Kelly Fertel placed first in the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.42; only one hundredth of a second faster than Faulconer’s time of 2:02.43.
Sherridon Dressel, the sister of Caeleb Dressel, placed third in the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.64
"This was a nice way to start the beginning of the season. There were a lot of great races. The format forces you to swim fast in the morning, which is a great learning experience for our newcomers," coach Gregg Troy said in a release. "There were a lot of performances where people stepped up and the enthusiasm was great. We are ready for a strong rest of the weekend."
The All-Florida Invitational will continue tomorrow, with preliminaries beginning at 9 a.m. and the finals kicking off at 4 p.m. The final day of the invitational will take place this Sunday, with preliminaries at 9 a.m. with the finals time to be announced later on.
You can follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells, and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
Caeleb Dressel rests in the water during Florida’s 183-117 win against Tennessee on Jan. 28, 2017, at the O’Connell Center.
