If the Florida men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were tired after their dual meets against Florida State on Friday, they showed no signs of it against FAU on Saturday.
Both the men’s and women’s teams came out strong in decisive victories against the Owls at the O’Connell Center, with the men’s team beginning the day with seven consecutive wins for a 179-103 victory and the women’s team winning five straight to top FAU 180-101.
On the men’s side, seniors Jan Switkowski and Caeleb Dressel, who were crucial in the Gators’ victory against the Seminoles, continued their strong performances with wins in the 100 breaststroke and 200 fly, respectively.
Other swimmers who took part in the seven-win run included freshman Michael Taylor (200 medley relay), sophomores Dakota Mahaffey (100 back) and Drew Clark (1,000 free), and juniors Grady Heath (200 free), Stanley Wu (200 medley relay) and Bayley Main (50 free) .
"The team is starting to show a lot of character,” coach Gregg Troy said in a release. “We picked up today where we left off yesterday and there was no noticeable drop.”
After starting off the day with a win in the 200 medley relay, the Gators women’s team followed up with victories by sophomores Kelly Fertel and Dani Keymont in the 1,000 free and 100 breast, respectively, while juniors Georgia Marris and Sydney Sell placed first in the 200 free and 200 back, respectively.
Keymont picked up another win in the 200 breast, the only member of either team to win two events on the day.
“The older people swam some odd events,” Troy said, “which gave the younger people a chance to swim some of their best events.”
Sophomore diver Brooke Madden emerged victorious in her second win in the past two days, securing a victory in the 3-meter board with a score of 277.50. Redshirt senior Dalton Goss placed second in the 1-meter event with a score of 287.48, while sophomore Alex Farrow placed right behind him in third with a score of 247.65.
UF will take a 14-day break before returning to competition on Jan. 20 in a dual meet against Auburn in the O’Connell Center, where the 14 seniors on the men’s and women’s teams will be honored during senior day.
“Really good racing within the team, which is always nice to see,” coach Troy said. “They are not afraid to race one another and that is a great thing."
A story from floridagators.com contributed to this report.
Follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him atrwells@alligator.org.
Caeleb Dressel won the 200 fly Saturday afternoon against FAU. His win was one of seven consecutive victories for the men's team to start the event.
