Gators Collect Two Relay Titles on First Day of SECs

Jan Switkowski contributed to the Gator men's 200 medley relay title tonight with his butterfly leg.

Gators Collect Two Relay Titles on First Day of SECs

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Photo Gallery - Men's team Photo Gallery - Women's team

Caeleb Dressel made history once again during the 200 medley relay

By: Layne Weitzel

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | DAY 1 RESULTS

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – It's just day one of the 2017 SEC Championships, but Florida's not wasting any time.

The Gator men swept both the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay, the only two swimming events of the day, to collect Florida's first pair of conference titles this week. After today's action, the men rank second in the team standings, while the women stand at seventh.

Florida opened with a victory in the medley relay, with Jack Blyzinskyj, Chandler Bray, Jan Switkowski and Caeleb Dressel teaming up for a nation-best, SEC record and A-cut 1:23.44. That time was just .01 seconds off from tying a program record, which was set at last season's NCAA Championships.

UF repeated as champions in that event, having won the relay last season at 1:23.69 with the help of Blyzinskyj, Dressel, Switkowski and former Gator Corey Main. In that race, Dressel swam the breaststroke leg, and Main swam the anchoring freestyle leg.

The story of the race tonight turned out to be Dressel, who entered the water in seventh at the start of his anchoring freestyle leg. He split a staggering 17.90, becoming only the second man to split sub-18 seconds on a relay (USC's Vladimir Morozov did it first when he split 17.86 during the 2013 NCAA Championships' 200 free relay).

Khader Baqlah, Maxime Rooney, Mitch D'Arrigo and Mark Szaranek followed up with another A-cut and conference record 6:12.18 in the 800 free relay, breaking the 6:12.85 record previously held by Pawel Werner, Nicholas Alexiou, D'Arrigo and Dan Wallace in 2015.

Florida has dominated the 800 free relay at SECs in recent years, winning the event for five-consecutive seasons.

The women's 200 medley relay proved to be an interesting one, as LSU, Vanderbilt, Arkansas and South Carolina's squads were all disqualified based on their exchanges during the race. Florida's lineup of Emma Ball, Kelly Fertel, Alyssa Yambor-Maul and Sherridon Dressel placed eighth with a time of 1:39.03 to kick off the week's swimming events.

The Florida women also finished eighth in the 800 free relay. Amelia Maughan, Kelsey Dambacher, Taylor Katz and Fertel combined for a B-cut 7:06.87.

"We had a good day," said head coach Gregg Troy. "We had a lot of best times in the relays. We didn't swim as smart as we could, but I think for starters, it was a really good first day."

Florida's divers opened the day with the men on 1-meter and the women on 3-meter.

For the men, Samuel Smith placed ninth with 343.90 points, Dylan Power tied for 15^th with 309.05 points and Dalton Goss placed 19^th with a season-high 291.25 points. Although only the top eight advanced to the night's finals, all three earned points for Florida, as the top 24 finishers are scored.

On 3-meter, Abigail Howell placed 15^th with 299.70 points, Teya Syskakis 17^th with 285.70 points, Brooke Madden 18^th with 282.60 points, Miranda Goss with 249.65 points and Brianna Felegi 39^th with 196.75 points. Howell's score was a career-best for her.

"We are a young team, and that showed a little today," said diving coach Bryan Gillooly. "I think our lack of experience under this kind of pressure kept us out of the finals. It was a close competition, and we just ended up on the short end a few times. We are still paying our dues, and ultimately we will come back stronger in the future.

"I am very proud of how they performed and represented the Gators. I am especially happy that we were able to contribute some valuable team points."

Competition will continue Wednesday morning with 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free prelims beginning at 9 a.m. The women will also hold 1-meter prelims beginning at 1 p.m., and the finals of those aforementioned events plus the 200 free relay will start at 6 p.m.

Results can be viewed live on utsports.com and will be posted in full on FloridaGators.com at the conclusion of each day of competition. The meet will be streamed live on SEC Network +.

Fans planning to visit during any day of the meet are encouraged to visit Tennessee's meet information page for more on tickets, parking, the clear bag policy, etc. Doors open to the public at 9 a.m. each day.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Wednesday, Feb. 15
Women's 1-meter
500 free
200 IM
50 free
200 free relay

Thursday, Feb. 16
Men's 3-meter
400 IM
100 fly
200 free

Friday, Feb. 17
Women's platform
200 fly
100 back
100 breast
400 medley relay

Saturday, Feb. 18
Men's platform
1650 free
200 back
100 free
200 breast
400 free relay

TEAM STANDINGS
Men
1. Texas A&M (188 points)
2. Florida (165.5 points)
3. LSU (154 points)
4. Tennessee (144.5 points)
5. Auburn (128 points)
6. South Carolina (120 points)
7. Alabama (119 points)
8. Kentucky (111 points)
9. Georgia (104 points)
10. Missouri (70 points)

Women
1. Texas A&M (158 points)
2. Georgia (155 points)
3. Missouri (146 points)
4. Auburn (141 points)
5. Kentucky (139 points)
6. Tennessee (132 points)
7. Florida (116 points)
8. South Carolina (90 points)
9. Alabama (87 points)
10. LSU (74 points)
11. Arkansas (58 points)
12. Vanderbilt

FLORIDA'S TITLES
Men's 200 medley relay (Jack Blyzinskyj, Chandler Bray, Jan Switkowski, Caeleb Dressel) – 1:23.44
Men's 800 freestyle relay (Khader Baqlah, Maxime Rooney, Mitch D'Arrigo, Mark Szaranek) – 6:12.18

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