UF’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dominated the Auburn Fall Invitational, both adding wins to their records to end the fall portion of the season.
The three-day meet started on Wednesday morning and included three days of preliminaries in the morning, followed by finals in the evening.
The women continued their win-streak, defeating Auburn in the championship-style meet with a final score of 508-421. While the biggest key in the win against Miami was the success of the newcomers, this time, the veterans stepped up.
Sophomore Talia Bates absolutely dominated the field, winning every finals event out of the four she swam in. These races included the 50-yard freestyle (22.30), the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.29), the 100-yard backstroke (53.03) and the 100-yard freestyle (48.52). She notched individual wins on each day of competition.
Junior Vanessa Pearl also grabbed two individual wins, winning the championship final in both the 200- and 400-yard individual medley races. Freshman Cecilia Porter notched a win and the new UF record in the 100-yard breaststroke, with a final time of 59.22.
On the men’s side, it was a similar story. The men’s team defeated the Tigers in its matchup by a score of 521-426 to get its first win on the season.
Junior Kieran Smith left the final day of competition with three wins under his belt. Smith took home the win for the Gators in the 200-yard individual medley (1:41.72), the 400-yard individual medley (3:42.11) and the 200-yard butterfly (1:43.22). He picked up a win every day of competition.
Sophomore Eric Friese also left Auburn with wins in three events. Friese got his first win on Wednesday in the 50-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 19.46. He came back strong on Thursday, winning the 100-yard butterfly in 46.63. On Friday, he took the win in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing at 42.88.
This meet marks the final meet of the fall portion of the season for the swimmers. The divers will be back in action on Dec. 2 for the Miami Diving Invitational. The swimmers will return on Jan. 9 to face Texas A&M.
Contact Sara Kate Dyson at skatedyson@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @sarakatedyson.
