Florida’s women’s swimming and diving team claimed a 190-94 nonconference win over in-state rival Miami Thursday in the Gators home opener.
Nikki Miller won the 200 freestyle in 1:48.15 and added a 500 free win in 4:53.01 for the No. 10 Gators (1-1). Annette Schultz added victories in the 100 backstroke and 100 free, the first two victories of her Florida career.
The Gators also got wins in the 200 medley relay (Rosie Zavaros, Cecilia Porter, Chade Nersicio and Bettina Boszormenyi) and 400 free relay (Vanessa Pearl, Miller, Taylor Ault and Kirschtine Balbuena).
“I think I said it last week after we competed with Georgia, it was the first time these ladies have competed in about eight months so we’re in a situation where we need more than anything, the opportunity to race,” said Florida coach Jeff Poppell. “Even today’s competition against Miami, you saw the improvements versus a week ago. We did use today as an opportunity to swim around some people in different events, which I think is good for them but at the same time, it gives us an opportunity to evaluate our team a little bit better. Like I said, I was really pleased. We had a lot of first-time event winners. We’ve had some younger swimmers in our program a year ago, or the year before, that were kind of depth-people, maybe. We’d go to meets and they wouldn’t be people winning events.
“Now they’re in a situation as juniors and seniors that we’re looking upon them to win events and to be leaders, and they’re doing that…I feel like from last week’s meet to today’s meet with Miami – we learned a lot. We learned a lot about our team. We learned a lot about our individuals and I definitely feel a lot better where we are now versus where we were a week ago.”
It’s Florida’s 29th straight win against Miami, in the Gators’ last dual meet of 2020.
Katie Mack won the 100 fly in 56.53 and was second to Miller in the 200 free. Chloe Grimme won the 50 free in a 1-2-3 Florida sweep, with Grimme later finishing second to Schultz in the 100 free. Kenady Beil dominated the 200 butterfly by four seconds to win in 1:59.44. And Cecilia Porter won the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.82, an NCAA B cut time.
Taylor Ault (1,000 free), Tylor Mathieu (200 breast), Kathleen Golding (200 individual medley) and Celi Guzman (200 back) also notched wins.
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