Both the Gators men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams put up a strong showing in Day 2 of the All-Florida Invitational. This was a strong performance especially for the women’s team after they were mostly dominated by ACC rival FSU on Friday.
While the FSU women’s team did find minor success, winning the 200 medley with a time of 1:41.01 and swimmer Natalie Pierce winning the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:03.04, the Gators took the rest of the events.
Florida won the other team event, the 800 yard free relay, with a time of 7:22.91, and they emerged victorious in every women’s individual event. Sophomore Savanna Faulconer placed first in both the 400 IM and the 200 yard free, with times of 4:16.01 and 1:50.27, respectively.
Sophomore Sherridon Dressel won the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 55.57, and sophomore Emma Ball took home the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 53.30.
The men’s swimming team performed well for the second straight day in a row. They won both team events, finishing the 200 medley with a time of 1:28.65 and the 800 yard free relay with a time of 6:33.75.
Senior standout Caeleb Dressel won the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 46.89. Polish native Jan Switkowski would have been the victor of the 400 IM with a time of 3:53.11, but he was disqualified due to his shoulders not being at or past vertical towards breast off the wall; nonetheless, Florida’s Mark Szaranek was declared the winner.
Sophomore Maxine Rooney won the 200 yard free with a time of 1:37.02. Finally, junior Stanley Wu won the 100 yard breast with a time of 55.42.
"We had another great day today. We are seeing a lot of good swims for this time of the year,” coach Gregg Troy said in a release. "I have seen a tremendous improvement in this sophomore class, both physically and with their maturity."
The All-Florida Invitational will conclude tomorrow, with preliminaries starting at 9 a.m. and the finals to kick off at noon.
You can follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells, and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
UF head coach Gregg Troy (right) and associate head coach Jeff Poppell (left) celebrate during Florida's 183-117 win against Tennessee on Jan. 28, 2017, in the O'Connell Center.
