A broken record highlighted Florida's two wins at the LSU Natatorium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Friday. The men's team edged out the Tigers 164.5-129.5 to improve to 2-0, while the women are now 4-0 after a 196-104 decision over LSU.
Ball breaks LSU Natatorium record
Junior Emma Ball broke an LSU pool record on Friday that was held by former Gator Gemma Spofforth (53.84). Ball swam a blistering 52.53 in the 100-yard backstroke split of the 400-yard medley relay. The team of Ball, freshman Vanessa Pearl, freshman Mabel Zavaros and junior Bella Garofalo posted the country's fastest time with a 3:40.59.
Zavaros continues to be one of Florida's strongest swimmers this season. She won three more events at the team's fourth meet of the year. She finished the 200-yard freestyle in 1:50.19. Later in the meet, swept both butterfly events, winning the 100 with a 54.40 and the 200 with a 1:59.95 finish.
Pearl tied with her freshman teammate on Friday, winning three individual events of her own. She claimed victory in both the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.66) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.47). She won the 400-yard individual medley with a 4:13.32, the nation's fastest time so far this season.
Junior Brooke Madden led the Gators’ diving team. She took bronze in both the 1-meter (308.63) and the 3-meter (331.73) events.
Rooney led the men's team with three victories
Junior Maxime Rooney outswam the competition on Friday, earning three first-place finishes to bring his individual-win total to five through two meets. Rooney picked up his first victory in the 200-yard butterfly with the nation's sixth-fastest time, a 1:47.89 finish. He brought home the gold in the 100-freestyle with a time of 44.57.
Perhaps a bit overshadowed by Rooney's day, freshman Robert Finke had a heck of an outing himself. The Clearwater, Florida, native won both the 500-yard freestyle (4:30.95) and the 400-yard individual medley (3:58.27).
Trey Freeman, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, picked up an impressive win in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Freeman clocked in with the country's fourth-fastest time at 9:02.58, finishing just ahead of fellow Gator, junior Khader Baqlah (9:02.71).
UF swept the 100-and 200-breaststroke events as well on Friday. Junior Marco Guarente won the 100 with a 55.27 finish, which was good enough to become the nation's 10th-fastest time. His teammate and fellow junior, Grant Sanders was victorious in the 200, finishing at 1:59.53.
Both teams will be back in action on Oct. 19 when they head to Austin, Texas, to matchup with Texas and Indiana. The meet is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Follow Evan Lepak on Twitter @evanmplepak and contact him at elepak@alligator.org.
