The Florida Gators men’s and women’s swimming teams started the new year by celebrating their seniors at their home dual meet against South Carolina Friday.
Florida carried strong performances throughout the meet, overtaking the leaderboard in multiple events for both the men’s and women’s races. The No. 2 men’s team is currently 6-0 and the No.3 women’s team is 6-1.
In the women’s 1,000 freestyle, Florida claimed the top four spots on the leaderboard. Sophomore Caroline Pennington came in first with a time of 9:50.93, senior Madison Kolessar placed second with a time of 9:58.95, sophomore Camille DeBoer finished third with a time of 10:03.34 and senior Leah DeGeorge recorded a time of 10:35.7, placing fourth.
In a tight race for the men’s 1,000 freestyle, senior Jack VanDeusen placed first with a time of 9:09.05, defeating South Carolina freshman Connor Fry.
In the women’s and men’s 200 freestyle, the Gators tabbed all three spots on the podium with junior Micayla Cronk placing first with a time of 1:45.65, Ekaterina Nikonova placing second with a time of 1:47.49 and freshman swimmer Lainy Kruger placing third with a time of 1:48.96.
On the men’s side, junior Mason Laur placed first with a time of 1:38.42, sophomore Eric Brown placed second with a time of 1:38.59 and freshman Jonny Marshall placed third with a time of 1:39.19.
The women’s team led the meet and filled the top three spots on the leaderboard in the 100 breaststroke. Senior Isabel Ivey placed first with a time of 1:01.66, sophomore Anna Moore placed second with a time of 1:03.16 and freshman Grace Rainey placed third with a time of 1:03.68.
In the men’s 100 breaststroke, junior Peter Bretzmann placed first with 55.24 points.
In the men’s and women’s 400 individual medley, junior Benjamin Cote and freshman Julia Podkoscielny both placed first with respective times of 3:53.73 and 4:16.86.
The men’s team honored their eight seniors Amro Al-Wir, Adam Chaney, Jace Crawford, Mateusz Dubas, Wesley Hyde, Billy Jones, Jake Mitchell, Brendan Peacock and Jack VanDeusen.
The women’s team celebrated six seniors. Elise Bauer, Leah DeGeorge, Isabel Ivey, Madison Kolessar, Amanda Ray and Mabel Zavaros.
Five of the eight men’s seniors and four of the six women’s seniors were members of the 2023 SEC Championship-winning team.
Next, Florida will compete in Ocala against the Florida State Seminoles Jan. 26.
Contact Shaine Davison at sdavison@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @shainedavison.
