In October, both Ben Lawless and Jan Switkowski earned the SEC Male Swimmer of the Week award. After their performances on Day 3 of the Purdue Invitational at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatics Center, it wouldn’t be a stretch to hear their names called once again.
Both Switkowski and Lawless notched victories in West Lafayette, Indiana on Saturday, with Lawless leading a podium sweep in the men’s 1650 freestyle event and Switkowski in the men’s 200 backstroke. Switkowski was also part of the winning men’s 400 free relay team and ended the invitational with two team wins, two individual wins and two podium places.
Their efforts, along with strong performances from sophomore Khader Baqlah, senior Mark Szaranek, and sophomore Maxime Rooney brought the UF men’s team to victory at the Purdue Invitational, ending the meet with 1009 points.
The most notable opponent of the tournament was the No.1 team in the nation, Indiana, who previously defeated Florida in October.
The UF women’s team won their first race of the meet on Saturday, with junior Sydney Sell placing first in the women’s 200 backstroke. Senior Amelia Maughan also placed podium in the women’s 100 yard freestyle.
The women finished the meet in second place, behind the No. 9 Hoosiers. The women’s 400 freestyle relay team placed fourth in the only team event of the day.
"I am really proud of the weekend we had here,” coach Gregg Troy said in a release. “Both teams had some tremendous swims and have made great strides.”
The UF men’s diving team shook off their struggles from the first two days of the meet, with senior Dalton Goss placing eighth and sophomore Alex Farrow placing 10th in the platform dive. On the women’s side, freshman Emma Whitner, who failed to qualify for the 1-meter final on day two of the invitational, placed seventh in the platform dive. Sophomore Brooke Madden and junior Teya Syskakis did not participate.
"The platform today went pretty well with a few top-10 finishes,” diving coach Gregg Gillooly said in a release. “We met most of our goals to this point in the season, so I am very happy about that. Now we will really need to focus on performance and staying healthy for the second half."
The next time both the UF men’s and women’s team will compete will be in Columbus, Ohio, for U.S Nationals beginning on Nov. 29.
You can follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells, and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
Both Jan Switkowski and Ben Lawless notched victories in West Lafayette, Indiana on Saturday, with Lawless leading a podium sweep in the men’s 1650 freestyle event and Switkowski in the men’s 200 backstroke.
