Baqlah, Switkowski Earn SEC Titles on Day 3

Friday, February 16

College Station, TX

ALL DAY

Florida Gators

SEC Championships

Khader Baqlah after winning his first SEC Title in the 200 free.

Baqlah, Switkowski Earn SEC Titles on Day 3

Friday, February 16, 2018 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Florida earned four medals overall on the third day of the SEC Championships

By: Katie Callahan

Results | Day 3 Prelim Recap | Meet Notes | Championship Central

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Gators notched two more titles on Day 3 of the SEC Championships, as the men held on to their first place position with 595 points and the women moved into seventh overall with 347.5.

It was a night of firsts for the two Florida swimmers, with both Jan Switkowski and Khader Baqlah earning their first individual SEC title.

Switkowski earned his first individual SEC Championship in the 100 fly, swimming a career-best A-cut time of 45.26. With 50 yards to go, Switkowski sat in fourth place, but turned it up to another level in the final 50 for the come from behind victory.

The Gators' other title of the night came by way of the 200 free, with Baqlah recording the fastest time in the nation to win his first individual SEC title. His time of 1:31.96 was an A-cut and was just .23 seconds away from the SEC Meet record.

Maxime Rooney, the reigning champion in the 200 free, finished just behind Baqlah, giving the Gators the 1-2 punch. Rooney's time of 1:32.97 was a B-cut.

Mark Szaranek won Florida's other medal, finishing second in the 400 IM with an A-cut time of 3:37.50. Szaranek medaled in both IM events at the Championship meet, earning bronze during Thursday's 200 IM.

Six other Gator men swam in 400 IM finals: Ross Palazzo (3:46.83), Alex Lebed (3:49.71), Grant Sanders (3:44.86) and Brennan Balogh (3:46.00) went 15-18 in the B and C finals, all notching B-cut times. Andrew Brady (3:47.28) and Santiago Corredor (3:47.85) both raced in the C final, finishing 22nd and 24th overall.

The women had another solid performance on Day 3, moving up one more spot to seventh place. The team is within 10 points of fifth place and 30 points of fourth.

In the women's 400 IM, Hannah Burns made an appearance in the first A final of her career, finishing sixth overall with a time of 4:08.22. Savanna Faulconer and Kelly Fertel both swam in the B final of the 400 IM, with Faulconer recording a B-cut of 4:09.33 to finish 11th and Fertel swimming a B-cut of 4:10.91 to place 13th.

Amelia Maughan made it back to the 200 free A final after having swam in the B final last year and she finished seventh overall with a B-cut of 1:46.93. Kelsey Dambacher swam in the B final for the Florida women, finishing 12th overall with a B-cut time of 1:46.27.

Tori Bindi rounded out the women in the 200 free finals, placing 21st overall with a B-cut qualifying time of 1:47.36.

Brooke Madden earned her way into the final of the women's 3-meter after having recorded a personal-best score of 353.10 in prelims. The sophomore finished fifth with a score of 336.55, garnering 25 points in her first SEC final.

Results can be followed live here and full results will be posted at the conclusion of competition each day at FloridaGators.com.

Fans who plan to attend are encouraged to check out the Championship Central for information on tickets, parking, the venue and Texas A&M's clear bag policy.

Gator Titles:

100 fly – Jan Switkowski – 45.26
200 free – Khader Baqlah – 1:32.97
200 IM – Caeleb Dressel – 1:38.13
- American, NCAA, US Open, SEC Meet and pool record
200 medley relay – Michael Taylor, Chandler Bray, Jan Switkowski, Caeleb Dressel – 1:22.94
- New school record and new SEC Meet record
800 free relay – Jan Switkowski, Maxime Rooney, Khader Baqlah, Mark Szaranek – 6:12.06
- SEC Meet record

Straight from the Source – Head Coach Gregg Troy:

"We had a good day today – we started off a little rocky, not positioning people the way we would have liked to position them but they came back tonight and did a good job with the lanes they had. We came close to winning all three men's events tonight. Jan Switkowski finally won one, getting his hand on the wall first with a really good 100 fly. Then we had the 1-2 punch to finish the evening and that put us in a good position."
"The women have been tremendous – we are light years ahead of where we were a year ago. It'll be a real dog fight for fourth place, we have four teams that are really close together at the moment. The divers really stepped up for us today, which really helped. Brooke Madden did a great job. We still have a few weak spots, but they are continuing to race well with a lot of enthusiasm."

Straight from the Source – Diving Coach Bryan Gillooly:

"I am very proud of Brooke – it was her first big final tonight. What we have been working on all year is getting her to be more confident and she did that in the preliminary. She was steady in the final, but with a little more confidence, those dives go down for a point more each and we are looking at possibly winning this thing."

Straight from the Source – Sophomore Khader Baqlah

"It felt great winning the first SEC title today. I have worked hard for it every practice and I am getting better in the splits, so it felt really good. Having really fast teammates to train with is really helpful, it helps us to go faster."

Straight from the Source – Sophomore Maxime Rooney

"It is always a joy to go 1-2 with my teammate. I don't like losing, but it makes it a lot easier if I am losing to my teammate. We have been working hard all season and I am happy to see Khader reap the rewards. We have a lot of meet left here, but we are excited an in a good position."

Straight from the Source – Sophomore Brooke Madden

"It was really awesome to make my first final tonight, it is something we have trained all year for and I am really happy it all came together tonight. I felt much more confident in myself tonight – on Wednesday, when I was doing 1-meter, I was trying to make everything perfect and tonight I just got after every dive with confidence and it worked out well."

Straight from the Source – Senior Amelia Maughan

"It felt really good to get back to the 200 free final again and to have that atmosphere around me. After making the B final last year, it was much different and I loved having the Gators behind me."

Standings – Men:

Florida – 595
Texas A&M – 527
Georgia – 514
Tennessee – 506
Auburn – 438.5
Missouri – 424.5
South Carolina – 381
Alabama – 360.5
Kentucky – 326
LSU – 253.5

Standings – Women:

Texas A&M - 737
Tennessee – 544.5
Georgia – 543
Auburn – 374.5
Missouri – 355
Kentucky – 350
Florida – 347.5
South Carolina – 333.5
Alabama - 319
Arkansas – 252
LSU – 210
Vanderbilt - 120

Broadcast Information:

Live results will be available for the entire meet
Live stream will be aired on the SEC Network + for all five days
Sunday's finals session will aired on the SEC Network at 7 p.m. EST
The Championship Central can be found here

Next Up:

The Gators are back in action on Saturday for the fourth day of the SEC Championships
Prelims begin at 11 a.m. EST and feature the 200 fly, 100 back, 100 breast
Diving prelims are set to 1:30 p.m. EST and feature the men's platform event
Finals will be streamed on the SECN+ and are set to begin at 7 p.m. EST