Florida’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams sent 14 Gators to the 2023 Bulldog National Collegiate Athletic Association Qualifying Meet in Athens, Georgia. The invitational was the swimmers' last chance to qualify for the NCAA championships.
The Gators left the pool on day one with 14 B-cut times.
Junior Madison Kolessar posted a 4:52.20-minute time in the women’s 500-yard freestyle preliminary race and marked third.
Senior Allie Piccirillo’s 55.18-second time earned ninth in the women’s 100-yard butterfly preliminary event.
Freshman Edouard Fullum-Huot finished in second place with a 19.48-second time in the men’s 50-yard freestyle preliminary. Sophomore Chance Tirheimer’s 19.77-second time secured third place.
In the men’s 500-yard freestyle preliminary, senior Brennan Gravley placed second with a 4:19.90-minute time. Sophomore Ben Cote trailed three seconds behind him at 4:22.34 minutes. Sophomore Aryan Nehra finished in fifth with a 4:24.52-minute time.
Junior Amro Al-Wir finished second when he tapped the wall in 52.64 seconds in the men’s 100-yard breaststroke preliminary race. Sophomore Raphael Rached Windmuller landed fifth place with his 52.76-second time.
In the women’s 500-yard freestyle final race, Kolessar won third place with her 4:50.39-minute time.
Nehra earned second place in the men’s 500-yard freestyle final event. His 4:19.29-minute swim set a personal best and B-cut time.
Junior Billy Jones ended in second place in the men’s 200-yard individual medley final with a time of 1:43.90-minutes. Sophomore Peter Bretzmann’s 1:46.42-minute time took fourth place.
Freshman Cameron Abaqueta finished ninth in the men’s 200-yard backstroke final race with a 1:44.15-minute time.
In the men’s 50-yard freestyle final, the Gators registered three B-cut times. Fullum-Huot locked in second place with his 19.46-second time. Tirheimer's 19.53-second swim was good enough for third place. Freshman Dawson Joyce finished fifth in the event with a 19.79-second time.
Al-Wir claimed second place in the men’s 100-yard breaststroke final with his 52.53-second time. Windmuller’s 52.68-second time procured him fifth place.
The women’s team ranked ninth, and the men’s team ranked third at the end of day one. The combined team was in fifth place with a score of 152 points.
The Florida men’s and women’s swimming team collected seven more B-cut times on the final day.
In the men’s 400-yard individual medley preliminary race, Bretzmann took second place with a 3:45.91-minute time.
Fullum-Huot swam an event-best 42.42 seconds in the men's 100-yard freestyle preliminary. Tirheimer was in fourth place with a 43.14-second swim. Joyce’s 44.41-second swim ranked tenth.
Piccirillo tied in the women’s 200-yard butterfly preliminary with Florida State freshman Sophie Freeman with a 1:57.18-second time.
Jones ended in second place in the men’s 200-yard butterfly preliminary with a 1:44.17-minute time.
In the men’s 200-yard breaststroke preliminaries, Al-Wir clocked 1:52.33 minutes — the top time of the day. Windmuller won the event in the men’s 200-yard butterfly finals with a 1:54.10-minute time.
Bretzmann finished in second place with a 3:45.45-minute B-cut time in the men’s 400-yard individual medley final.
Fullum-Huot finished in 42.64 seconds in the men's 100-yard freestyle finals. Tirheimer was in third with a B-cut time of 43.17 seconds in the finals.
In the women’s 200-yard butterfly final, Piccirillo claimed the top spot in the finals with a B-cut time of 1:56.70 minutes.
In the men’s 200-yard butterfly final, Jones marked third place when he touched the wall in 1:43.69 minutes.
Abaqueta cut 0.40 seconds off his men’s 100-yard backstroke preliminary time with a 47.04-second B-cut time in the finals.
The Gators’ men’s team finished the meet with the highest points total at 309. The women, with only two competing athletes, finished in sixth place with 53 points.
The NCAA Championships begin in March. The NCAA Diving Zones are from March 5 to March 8, and the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships are March 15 to March 18, both in Knoxville, Tennessee. The NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from March 22 to March 25.
Contact Krisha Sanghavi at ksanghavi@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @krishasang.
Krisha Sanghavi is a third-year public relations and economics major. In her free time, she loves cheering on Miami sports teams and spending time with her friends.
