Dressel, Warner Claim SEC Titles as UF Shines in Day 3 at SECs

Thursday, February 18

Columbia, Mo.

All Day

Florida Gators

SEC Championships

Photo: David Owens Photography

Dressel, Warner Claim SEC Titles as UF Shines in Day 3 at SECs

Thursday, February 18, 2016 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

UF gathers 8th SEC Title as men lead the field and women sit in 4th place

By: Benjamin Schmitz

Complete Results

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Sophomore Caeleb Dressel and senior Kahlia Warner each brought home Southeastern Conference Titles in Day Three competition at the 2016 SEC Championships on Thursday night. The Gators have a combined total of eight SEC Titles this week as the men lead the field with 723 points, and the women sit in fourth at 426.

For the second year in a row, Dressel, who shocked many with his 50-Yard freestyle races on Wednesday night, took the 100-Yard Butterfly crown with a blazing time of 44.80 -- a personal best for the Green Cove, Springs, Florida native. The two-time Butterfly Champion's mark stands as a new all-time SEC Meet record (Matt Targett, 45.02).

Following Dressel's dominant performance in the pool, senior Kahlia Warner kept the crowd on their feet with a remarkable routine in the diving well. Warner, who won the women's 1-meter SEC Title on Tuesday night, posted a six-dive score of 383.75. She is the first diver to post SEC Titles on both the one and 3-Meter springboards in the same year since Allison Brennan (South Carolina) won the two titles in 2006. The mark not only brought home an SEC Title for the Queensland, Australia, native -- it also broke the former school record (373.85, 2011) that Warner had been chasing since her arrival at UF.

In addition to Dressel and Warner's success, five Gators posted Top-5 finishes in tonight's 'A' finals. Sophomore Mark Szaranek came in second in the 400-Yard IM (3:41.88), sophomore Jan Switkowski finished fourth in the 100-Yard Butterfly (46.16), and sophomore Amelia Maughan (1:45.76) and junior Mitch D'Arrigo (1:34.26) posted fourth-place showings in the 200-Yard freestyle.

The Orange and Blue return to action tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET for Day Four competition inside the Mizzou Aquatic Center. Tomorrow's events include the 200-Yard Butterfly, 100-Yard Backstroke, 100-Yard Breaststroke, Men's Platform Diving, and the 200-Yard Medley Relay.

Florida Head Coach Gregg Troy on Day Three Competition:
"We had some good performances today and it's been a good team hunt. The women started off a little rocky during the 200 IM and came back and swam well this evening. Obviously Kahlia Warner did well on the boards -- two wins for her is really good for the women's team.

"On the men's side, we had good races throughout the day. Jan Switkowski gave up a real good event for the team -- we needed him in the 100-Yard butterfly even though he's more of a 200-Yard freestyle guy."

Head Diving Coach Dale Schultz on Day Four Competition:
"She's been training and diving really well. She's a tough competitor and prepared for this. She's got two titles but we're just going to go out on Sunday and do our best.

"She's been training really hard all year long and bought into what we're doing. We're looking forward to watching all the girls dive on platform as well as all of our guys - it's going to be an exciting couple of days."

Men's and Women's Standings Following Day Three at the SEC Championships

Men	Score	Women	Score
Florida	723	Texas A&M	657.5
Auburn	669	Tennessee	645.5
Georgia	572	Georgia	584.5
Alabama	449	Florida	426
Missouri	429	Auburn	354.5
Tennessee	360	Missouri	352.5
South Carolina	315	LSU	337
Texas A&M	291	Arkansas	303
LSU	288	Kentucky	286
Kentucky	264	South Carolina	261
		Alabama	234.5
		Vanderbilt	93