Smith leads 23 qualifiers into day 3 SEC finals

Smith leads 23 qualifiers into day 3 SEC finals

Thursday, February 16, 2017 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Competing in his hometown of Knoxville, Smith became the first Florida diver this week to advance to a final

By: Layne Weitzel

DAY 3 PRELIMS RESULTS | DAY 3 FINALS HEAT SHEET

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Samuel Smith became the first Florida diver this week to advance to an event's finals in the 2017 SEC Championships.

He'll join the 22 other entries Florida earned earlier today for tonight's finals in men's 3-meter, 400 IM, 100 fly and 200 free.

Smith placed eighth in the 3-meter prelims, nailing his last dive to move into the final qualifying spot with a 379.35 score, his fourth-highest of the season.

Dalton Goss and Dylan Power also competed on 3-meter. Goss placed 28^th with a score of 268.70, while Power posted a 241.95 score to finish 31^st.

SWIMMING

In the 400 IM on the women's side, the Gators qualified four underclassmen to tonight's B-final with four B-cuts and season-bests. Savanna Faulconer finished 10^th at 4:10.41, Kay Sargent placed 14^th at 4:12.52 and Kelly Fertel finished 16^th at 4:13.71. Hannah Burns also won her heat to finish 11^th overall at 4:10.76.

Morgan Kaisrlik timed a season-best 4:26.74 to finish in 38^th place.

On the men's side, both Mark Szaranek and Brennan Balogh won their heats to advance to the A-final and B-final respectively. Szaranek finished second overall at 3:42.42, while Balogh placed 11^th to clock a 3:47.40.

Alex Lebed will join Szaranek in the A-final, finishing eighth overall at 3:46.44. Ross Palazzo will compete in the B-final as well, finishing 15^th overall at 3:48.48.

Freshman Taylor Delk will make an appearance in the C-final, having finished 20^th at 3:50.46 this morning.

In the women's 100 fly, Alyssa Yambor-Maul grabbed a spot in the C-final, clocking a B-cut 54.08.

Sherridon Dressel finished just out of the finals in 27^th place, swimming a season-best, B-cut 54.26. Emma Ball also had a season-best swim, finishing in 32^nd place at 54.84.

The men's 100 fly A-final will feature juniors Caeleb Dressel and Jan Switkowski. Switkowski finished seventh this morning with a B-cut, season-best 46.22, while Dressel clocked a 44.87, an A-cut. He broke Matt Grevers' pool record from 2013 and is on the cusp of breaking his own SEC meet record from last year's championships (44.80).

Jack Blyzinskyj will appear in the C-final, placing 18^th with a season-best, B-cut of 47.06.

The 200 free prelims turned out to be full of Gators on both sides.

For the women, both Amelia Maughan and Kelsey Dambacher qualified for tonight's B-final. Maughan swam a B-cut 1:46.85, while Dambacher timed out at a B-cut, season-best 1:47.11.

Taylor Katz also made it into the C-final at 1:48.15, placing 24^th.

Tori Bindi recorded a new season-best of 1:49.06 to finish at 32^nd, while Autumn Finke placed 38^th at 1:49.71. Kahra Williams shaved 1.02 seconds off her seed time to finish 46^th at 1:51.40, and Elisavet Panti recorded a season-best 1:53.41 to tie for 53^rd place.

On the men's side, three Gators made it into tonight's A-final. Maxime Rooney earned the top seed at 1:33.05, Khader Baqlah placed third at 1:34.47 and Mitch D'Arrigo finished fifth at 1:34.62.

Rooney's time broke the 17-18 national age group record in the event, which was previously set at 1:33.07 in 2013. He also swam a 1:31.54 during his split in the SEC-winning 800 free relay on Tuesday night.

Bayley Main, Grady Heath and Ben Lawless will also see action in tonight's C-final, all posting season-best B-cuts. Main finished 17^th at 1:35.68, Heath followed in 18^th at 1:35.72 and Lawless placed 21^st at 1:36.13.

Sprinter Enzo Martinez-Scarpe, fresh off a title in the 200 free relay last night, placed 32^nd and registered a season-best B-cut of 1:37.29. Blake Manganiello put up another season-best time of 1:38.21 to finish in 40^th place. Drew Clark closed the event for Florida, clocking a 1:40.27 to finish 50^th.

Competition will continue tonight at 6 p.m. with finals.

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 attend 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.

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