Elizabeth Beisel tried to swim her way into history against FAU.
She was on pace to break a 25-year-old UF record in the 1650m free, held by Tami Bruce, but came up short. Bruce’s time of 15:50.86 is still standing after Beisel’s 15:53.22.
Though Bruce’s record remained, Beisel still won the event.
The No. 9 Gators women’s swimming and diving team followed suit, emerging victorious against the Owls by a score of 169-106. Senior Jamie Bohunicky grabbed a win in the 200 Butterfly, ahead of three other Gators who rounded out the top four.
“Coming in we knew it’d be a pretty fun meet,” Bohunicky said. “We all worked together. We all fed off each other, and overall, we all raced really tough.”
While most of the men’s team stayed behind to face FAU, nine members were in Dallas for the SMU Classic.
Following the first day, No. 7 Florida was sitting in third with 153 points. No. 1 Michigan led the pack with 166 points, followed by No. 5 USC with 162 points. Junior Sebastien Rousseau notched a victory for UF in the 400 IM. Junior Marcin Cieslak also gave the Gators a win when he posted a time of 47.78 in the 100 Fly.
Rousseau clocked in with a personal-best time of 4:17.53 to win the 500 Free. He would go on to take the 200 Fly.
By the end of competition on Saturday, the Gators remained in third with 318 points. USC took the meet with 330 points, and Michigan ended in second with 327.
The remaining portion of the men’s team who stayed in Gainesville also pulled out a win, knocking off FAU 178-111 with 10 individual victories.
FAU did end the day on a high note, as both the men and women pulled out victories over the Gators in the 200 freestyle relay.
Associate head coach Martyn Wilby was pleased with the effort his team gave.
“Technically, things like our starts, our relay starts, our turns were a lot better than they were in the fall (semester),” Wilby said.
The Gators will travel to Auburn, Ala., on Saturday to face senior Kyle Owens, and junior Olivia Scott — the defending Southeastern Conference men’s and women’s swimmers of the week — and the rest of the Tigers, who have not lost a meet this season.
“It’s going to be tough,” Wilby said.
UF junior Elizabeth Beisel speaks to her teammates at the All Florida Invitational at the O'Connell Center in 2012.
