Florida Gators
Georgia (50 LCM)
Four Gators Post U.S. Olympic Trial-Qualifying Times
Friday, October 30, 2015 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Complete Results
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Four members from the University of Florida men's and women's swimming and diving teams swam to U.S. Olympic Trial-qualifying times in Friday's matchup with the Georgia Bulldogs inside the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida. The Bulldogs came away with wins on both ends, but the Gators didn't go away easy -- swimming to four U.S. Olympic Trial-qualifying times, 12 wins, and seven career-best performances.
Friday's competition opened up in the diving well where the Gators took 3-of-4 boards. Senior Kahlia Warner nearly rewrote the record books at UF with a dominating performance off the three-meter. Warner posted a career-best six-dive mark of 373.28, just missing Monica Dodson's mark of 373.85 from 2011. Warner, a Queensland, Australia, native, also posted a runner up finish off the one-meter (290.70).
On the men's side, newcomer Sam Smith -- who's already met his NCAA Diving Standards on all three boards -- swept the one and three-meter diving events ahead of Georgia's Ian Forlini. Smith dove to a score of 345.44 off the one-meter and later took gold off the three-meter with a score of 381.30.
In the pool, senior Natalie Hinds led the UF women with three individual wins and one as a member of UF's 400-meter freestyle relay victory. Hinds' individual performances came in the 50-meter freestyle (26.61), 100-meter freestyle (57.72), and 100-meter butterfly (1:02.41) while the Midland, Texas, native, teamed up with freshman Mollie Pulte, sophomore Elisavet Panti, and senior Ashlee Linn to win the 400-meter freestyle relay (3:54.09).
Linn also had a strong showing in the 100-meter backstroke, swimming to a first-place finish with a time of 1:03.43.
On the men's side, the Gators were led by sophomore Caeleb Dressel, who swam to a pair of wins and a third place finish. Dressel's individual events opened in the 50-meter freestyle race, where he met a U.S. Olympic Trial-qualifying time of 22.73. The Green Cove Springs, Florida, native, also came through with a first-place time in the 100-meter freestyle, touching out at the 51.61 mark, edging second-place Trice Michael by 1.3 seconds.
Other notable wins were had by senior Corey Main in the 100-meter backstroke, where he and Jack Blyzinskyj had a 1-2 showing -- and both touched the wall with U.S. Olympic Trial-qualifying time standards. Main came in first with a time of 56.90 while Blyzinskyj followed close behind (57.15).
Freshman Jan Switkowski gathered UF's final U.S. Olympic Trial-qualifying time in the 200-meter butterfly, swimming to a first-place time of 2:01.08.
Final Men's Scores:
#2 Georgia 172.5
#1 Florida 127.5
Final Women's Scores:
#2 Georgia 169
#13 Florida 129
Head Coach Gregg Troy's Thoughts:
“We raced well in spots and not so well in other spots today. This was the second meet in a row where the competition was extremely good -- which is what we're looking for.
“We didn't feel like we responded as well today as we had at Texas. The Georgia guys raced real well and hats off to them for an incredible job. In fact, they might even be as good of a team if not better than Texas at the moment.
“We were in some good races and we lost some close ones. There were a few spots in the meet where we needed to take advantage of it. There's some real bright spots out there yet.
“We started a new training cycle and we're right in the middle of it which is a little more aggressive than what the end of the other one was at Texas a few weeks ago.
“We're going to take a look at where we're at. We're in it for the long haul – the meets that really count are in the Spring. We're comfortable where we're at but of course disappointed with a loss.
“There was certainly no lack of effort, we'll retune a few things moving forward.”
Head Diving Coach Dale Schultz's Comments:
“The divers did really well and we're getting better every meet.
“Kahlia Warner had a really strong meet only missing the school record by a half a point -- when you consider it was 373 points, that's not very much.
“Both the men and women dove real well. We're trying to continue making progressions each week and set ourselves up for the rest of the year.
“Sam Smith stuck out on the men's side, he won both events and he's continuing to progress and improving on his consistency.
“We'll keep adding new dives for some of our divers for a few of our divers but we'll keep working on our consistency.”
Up Next:
Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams will return to action next Friday, November 6, at 2 p.m. inside the Stephen C. O'Connell Center when they square off with SEC foe South Carolina. The meet will be broadcast live on SEC Network+.
For all of the latest information on Florida swimming & diving:
Official Website: www.gatorzone.com/swimmingdiving/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GatorsSwimDv
Twitter: @GatorsSwimDv
