The Florida men’s and women’s swim and dive teams traveled to College Station, Texas, to face No. 23/21 Texas A&M Friday and continue SEC play.
The No. 4 men’s team improved to 4-3 after topping the leaderboard in Friday’s matchup. UF was coming off of a 163-137 home loss to Indiana. The No. 4 women’s team moved to 5-1, with its only loss coming against Virginia at the beginning of the season.
Senior Julian Smith and junior Josh Liendo led the men’s team with 18 points each. Redshirt freshman Micayla Mattes led the women with 18 points.
The meet opened with the 200-yard medley relay, where the UF men and women claimed the top spots.
The UF men’s A team, featuring sophomore Jonny Marshall, Smith, Liendo and freshman Alexander Painter placed first with a time of 1:25.53. The men’s B team placed third and the C team placed fifth.
The women’s A team of sophomore Catie Choate, freshman Anita Bottazzo, senior Olivia Peoples and freshman Addison Reese finished first with a time of 1:39.13. The women’s B and C teams finished third and fifth, respectively.
In the men’s 1,000-yard freestyle, the Gators swept the scoreboard. Fifth-year Jake Mitchell finished first, freshman Luke Corey followed in second, sophomore Andrew Taylor placed third and sophomore Josh Parent fourth.
Mattes finished in first place in the women’s 1000-yard freestyle, swimming a time of 9:48.37. Junior Camille Deboer finished third with a time of 10:03.29.
Freshman Julie Brosseau, the SwimCloud 2024 No. 1 recruit, finished in first place in the women’s 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.03. Painter and senior Oskar Lindholm placed second and third, respectively, in the men’s 200-yard freestyle.
In the women’s 100 backstroke, junior Zoe Dixon finished third with a time of 55.10.
Marshall, the 2024 100- and 200-yard backstroke SEC champion, finished first in the men’s 100-yard backstroke, swimming a time of 47.10. Freshman Aiden Norman finished third with a time of 48.68.
Bottazzo and sophomore Molly Mayne claimed first and second place in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke. In the men’s event, Smith finished first with a time of 53.04 and junior Aleksas Savickas finished third with a time of 54.81.
Senior Mason Laur finished first in the men’s 200-yard butterfly, swimming a time of 1:45.67. In the women’s event, senior Emma Weyant and Reese finished second and third.
Senior Micayla Cronk placed first in the women’s 50-yard freestyle at 23.20, while Liendo placed first in the men’s event at 19.29.
In the women’s 100-yard freestyle, Peoples and fifth-year Julia Heimstead placed second and third. Painter placed second in the men’s 100-yard freestyle.
Weyant and Dixon finished second and third in the women’s 200-yard backstroke. Norman finished first in the men’s 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:44.14. Marshall followed in second place.
In the men’s 200-yard backstroke, Savickas placed first with a time of 1:57.49. Senior Raphael Rached Windmuller took second place. Mayne finished first in the women’s event, swimming a time of 2:13.51, and Bottazzo came in second.
In the men’s 500-yard freestyle, the Gators dominated the podium as junior Eric Brown, Corey and Parent placed in the top three. Brown swam a 4:28.03, Corey a 4:30.32 and Parent a 4:31.56.
Mattes finished in first place in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, swimming a time of 4:50.11. Senior Mabel Zavaros finished third, swimming a time of 4:53.01.
Peoples claimed her first individual win of the meet in the women’s 100-yard butterfly, swimming a time of 52.87. Liendo got his third win of the meet in the men’s 100-yard butterfly with a time of 45.95.
Dixon and Smith won the women's and men’s 200-yard individual medleys, respectively. It was both swimmers’ first individual wins of the meet. Dixon swam a time of 2:02.33 and Smith a 1:46.00.
The swimming events ended with the 400-yard freestyle relay.
In the women’s relay, Florida’s A team of Choate, sophomore Lainy Kruger, Reese and Cronk placed first, swimming a combined time of 3:20.80. The B team finished fourth.
The men’s A team also placed first. Painter, Liendo, freshman Devin Dilger and Lindholm swam a time of 2:53.98. The B team finished third and the C team finished fifth.
Florida placed first in almost every diving event.
Sophomore Camyla Monroy finished first in the women’s 3-meter and 1-meter with scores of 346.28 and 315.98.
Junior Peyton Donald finished first in the men’s 1-meter, with a score of 373.35. He also placed second in the 3-meter event.
The Gators will next host Florida State at home on Jan. 31.
Contact Isabella Sanin at isanin@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @BellaaSanin
Isabella Sanin is a senior majoring in journalism with a sports media specialization. She previously worked on the Copy Desk and is working on the Sports Desk this semester. In her free time, she loves listening to music, reading and thrifting.
