Photo Courtesy: Mike Comer/ProSwimVisuals.com
AUBURN – In the annual SEC rivalry meet between Florida and Auburn, the Florida men’s and women’s swim and dive teams each pulled out a narrow victory on Saturday afternoon at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center. The Florida men edged Auburn 158-142, while the women’s meet turned out to be even closer, with the Gators squeaking out a 152-148 victory. Caeleb Dressel, Jessica Thielmann and Kahlia Warner each won multiple events to pace the Gators.
Florida Press Release
The University of Florida’s No. 7-ranked men’s swimming & diving teams defeated No. 6 Auburn, 158-142. Meanwhile, UF’s No. 8 women’s squad squeezed by the 10th-ranked Tigers, 152-148, on Saturday afternoon in Auburn, Ala.
Florida’s men and women continued its recent success against Auburn, as the men now lead the Tigers 26-16 and the Gator women lead AU 22-13 all-time.
The Gator men were led by their sprinters as they swept all three sprint events with freshman Caeleb Dressel winning the 50-yard (19.61) and 100-yard (43.88) freestyle events and junior Pawel Werner taking home first place honors in the 200-yard freestyle (1:36.25).
UF’s women were led by junior Jessica Thielmann, as she won the 200-yard, 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle events in 1:48.79, 4:47.24 and 9:43.17, respectively. On the boards, Thielmann’s classmate Kahlia Warner won the one-meter (322.13) and three-meter (322.58) dives notching her eighth and ninth individual victories of the season.
Overall, the Gators captured 21 first place finishes through 32 events and registered multiple NCAA ‘B’ provisional marks throughout the meet.
UF’s men now sport a 5-1 (3-1 SEC) dual meet record, while the Gator women are a solid 5-2 (4-2 SEC) so far this season.
Florida returns home next weekend to finish off its regular season against Tennessee in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium on January 31 at 11 a.m. In addition to that meet being senior day, it will be Florida’s final meet before the SEC Championships (Feb. 17-21).
TROY’S TALKING
On his overall thoughts on the meet…
“Both squad’s showed a lot of character in how they raced today. We had a variety of people step up to score in key situations for us. We still have some technical issues to address but we are moving in the right direction. It was a great team effort.”
Head Coach Gregg Troy
GOING THE DISTANCE
Opposite of Thielmann on the men’s side, sophomore Mitch D’Arrigo won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:23.67, while junior Arthur Frayler won 1,000-yard free in 9:01.67.
BACK IT UP
The Florida women took home both backstroke races, as junior Ashlee Linn won each race with times of 54.02 (100-yard) and 1:55.78 (200-yard), respectively.
FREESTYLING
In addition to the Gator men’s success in the sprint events, Florida’s women won two of three sprint events with Thielmann winning the aforementioned 200-yard free and her classmate Natalie Hinds placing first in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 48.84.
I BELIEVE I CAN FLY
Seniors Christian Paul-Homer and Dan Wallace won the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly races in times of 47.64 seconds and 1:46.97, respectively.
BREASTSTROKE
Senior Matt Elliott notched the Gators lone victory in all the breaststroke events, as he won the men’s 200-yard breast in a time of 1:56.47.
DOING IT ALL
Senior Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez and redshirt freshman Theresa Michalak placed first in the men’s and women’s 200-yard individual medley with marks of 1:46.57 and 1:59.88, respectively.
RELAY MAGIC
The Gators lone relay victory of the meet came in the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay, as juniors Lindsey McKnight, Hinds, Linn and freshman Amelia Maughan clocked a time of 3:18.43.
Auburn Press Release
The Auburn swimming and diving team fell short in its final home dual meet of the regular season as the Tiger women dropped a heartbreaker to Florida, 152-148, while the men were downed 158-142 by the Gators Saturday at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
On the women’s side, the meet came down to the final event as the Gators (5-2, 5-1 SEC) out-touched the Tigers (6-2-1, 3-1-1 SEC) at the wall. Clinging to a 142-141 lead, Auburn’s Alex Merritt, Allyx Purcell, Megan Fonteno and Valerie Hull went 3:18.64 to nearly catch the Gators down the stretch, but it was Florida who touched in first at 3:18.43 to take the win and the meet victory. Auburn’s women finished the day with six event wins.
On the men’s side, Fraser McKean (1-meter, 3-meter) and Joe Patching (100 back, 200 back) picked up a pair of wins for Auburn’s men (3-4, 3-1 SEC) while the Tigers swept both relay events against Florida (5-1, 3-1 SEC).
“It was a great battle today between two really good teams. I thought there was lots of great swimming today,” head coach Brett Hawke said. “There were some things last time out against Texas that we thought we could improve on and I feel like we did that. Top-to-bottom we were much better and I was really happy with that.”
“This meet gives our kids confidence that we can compete against Florida and anyone else. I think the kids are going to be encouraged. It’s tough to lose by a few points at home, but I’m proud of their effort. Hopefully we can finish the season off really strong,” Hawke said afterwards.”
Saturday’s meet marked the final home regular-season meet for eight Auburn seniors. Four men – Allen Browning, Alex Hancock, Fraser McKean and Tommy McKee along with four women – Cinzia Calabretta, Megan Fonteno, Sarah Peterson and Shanna Schuelein.
“Each group of seniors leave a mark on this program,” Hawke said. “This group has made an impact on this program with their effort and hard work. They’re ready to close the season out on a strong note.”
Auburn’s women opened the meet with a convincing win in the 200 medley relay as the team of Jillian Vitarius, Beatriz Travalon, Fonteno and Purcell clocked a 1:39.58 to get the win.
The Tigers also picked up individual wins from Purcell in the 50 free (22.54), Natasha Lloyd in the 100 breast (1:01.76), Annie Lazor in the 200 breast (2:13.93), Maddie Martin in the 100 fly (54.18) and Sarah Peterson in the 200 fly (1:58.70) Peterson’s mark is a season-best in the event and Auburn’s fastest time of the year in the 200 fly.
For the Auburn men, Patching went 47.84 to grab the win in the 100 back in a tight race as first through third were separated by just .09 seconds. The sophomore cruised to victory in the 200 back at 1:43.77 later in the meet.
Michael Duderstadt earned his second-straight win in the 100 breast, clocking a 53.64.
Patching, Duderstadt, Arthur Mendes and Kyle Darmody opened the meet with a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay, posting a 1:27.64. In the 400 free relay, Mendes, Darmody, Hancock and Duderstadt closed out the competition with a 2:56.02 to take the win.
McKean continued his strong run of performances, grabbing two wins in diving. The senior set a season-best in the men’s 1-meter springboard event to begin the day as the senior scored 383.35 to lead a 1-2-3 Auburn finish. Justin Youtsey’s 359.18 was good enough for second, while Pete Turnham posted a 318.23 to place third. Youtsey also took second on the 3-meter board with a six-dive list of 353.10.
On the women’s side, Calabretta earned second for the Tigers in the 3-meter event as the senior posted a 285.00. Morgan Mullins was Auburn’s top-finisher on the 1-meter board, collecting a NCAA Zone qualifying score of 267.83 to place third.
Auburn heads to Columbia, Mo., Thursday for its final dual meet of the regular season against Missouri. Start time is set for noon CT. The Tigers will host the 2015 SEC Championships, Feb. 17-21.
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Florida vs. Auburn Dual Meet – Results