Rooney, Dressel Add Pair of Individual SEC Titles on Third Day of Championships

Thursday, February 16

Knoxville, TN

All Day

Florida Gators

SEC Championships

Freshmen Maxime Rooney and Khader Baqlah recorded a 1-2 punch in the 200 free.

Rooney, Dressel Add Pair of Individual SEC Titles on Third Day of Championships

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

Samuel Smith also registered a fourth-place finish and school record on the 3-meter

By: Layne Weitzel

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | DAY 3 FINALS RESULTS | DAY 3 PRELIMS RECAP

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – At just 18 years old and competing in his first conference championships, Maxime Rooney can already call himself a two-time SEC champion.

The freshman added the men's 200 free title to his resume Thursday night, timing an A-cut 1:32.18 and breaking his own 17-18 national age group record from earlier today in prelims. Rooney also helped Florida to the 800 free relay title earlier this week.

Rooney was part of a 1-2 Gator punch in the event's finals, with teammate Khader Baqlah also earning a second-place spot on the podium at 1:33.65. Mitch D'Arrigo finished fifth with a B-cut 1:34.07.

That was the second Florida 1-2 finish of the night. Juniors Caeleb Dressel and Jan Switkowski also placed 1-2 in the 100 fly, both timing A-cuts. Switkowski clocked a 45.59, while Dressel set a new school record of 44.21 and three-peated as the SEC 100 fly champion. His time ranks fourth-fastest ever and breaks his own SEC meet record of 44.80, set last year.

Mark Szaranek nearly won a third medal for Florida tonight in the 400 IM, dueling with three-time SEC champion Chase Kalisz throughout the race. Szaranek made it close, finishing in the runner-up spot by just .33 seconds with a 3:36.54 A-cut and breaking Conor Dwyer's 3:37.75 school record in the process.

Teammate Alex Lebed also competed in the A-final, clocking a B-cut 3:45.60 to finish eighth.

"It was a great evening tonight. There's always places where you'd like to be better, but we raced really well," said head coach Gregg Troy. "We came in this morning and did a tremendous job placing people. We had a few breakthrough swims today. Hannah Burns on the women's side was really good, and Kelly Fertel… We had a few more people qualify for the NCAA meet. Obviously Maxime Rooney was good. There was a tremendous school record swim from Mark Szaranek. We're trying to get better. We've got a couple more days."

In the diving well, Samuel Smith made huge strides for Florida on the 3-meter. After grabbing the last spot for the top-8 qualifiers in prelims, Smith totaled an average round score of 73.37 in his six finals dives. He scored 440.20 to finish in fourth place, breaking the Florida school record of 436.13 set by Jonathan Wilcox in 2007.

"I'm very happy for Sam tonight," said diving coach Bryan Gillooly. "He has led the way for this team the entire season, and tonight he did it on the big stage. He continues to set the tone for the future of Gator diving. He's a huge asset to this team."

400 IM
The women's 400 IM B-final was filled with a quartet of young Gators. Hannah Burns cut 2.11 seconds off her prelims time to finish second at 4:08.65, while Kelly Fertel also dropped time to finish fourth at 4:10.01. Savanna Faulconer followed up in 4:10.51 to finish sixth, and Kay Sargent placed eighth to time out at 4:15.98.

The Gator men were well-represented in the B- and C-finals of the event too. Brennan Balogh cut nearly two seconds off his prelims time to finish in a B-cut 3:45.87 and second-place spot in the B-final. Ross Palazzo finished eighth with a B-cut 3:54.11.

Freshman Taylor Delk appeared in the C-final, timing a B-cut 3:49.76 to finish in fifth place.

100 fly
Alyssa Yambor-Maul served as the lone Gator representative on the women's side, finishing fifth in the C-final in a B-cut 53.87.

Also in the men's 100 fly was Jack Blyzinskyj, who recorded a C-final win with a B-cut time of 46.70.

200 free
Competing in the B-final for the women were 2015 SEC champion Amelia Maughan and freshman Kelsey Dambacher. Maughan took first in the race, improving on her prelims time with a B-cut 1:46.36, and Dambacher finished seventh at 1:47.58, also a B-cut.

Taylor Katz appeared in the C-final, placing eighth at 1:48.74.

Rounding out the Gator men in the 200 free C-final was trio Bayley Main, Grady Heath and Ben Lawless. Lawless, traditionally a mile-man, placed seventh with a B-cut 1:36.70. Main finished fourth at 1:36.25 and Heath fifth at 1:36.32, both with B-cuts.

Competition will continue Friday morning with 200 fly, 100 back and 100 breast prelims beginning at 10 a.m. The women will also hold platform prelims beginning at 1 p.m., and the finals of those aforementioned events plus the 400 medley 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
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. Florida (759.5 points)
2. Georgia (537 points)
3. Auburn (495.5 points)
4. Alabama (415.5 points)
5. Texas A&M (414 points)
6. Tennessee (409.5 points)
7. South Carolina (380 points)
8. LSU (340 points)
9. Missouri (326.5 points)
10. Kentucky (248.5 points)

Women
1. Texas A&M (729 points)
2. Georgia (601 points)
3. Auburn (493 points)
4. Tennessee (454 points)
5. Missouri (430 points)
6. Kentucky (406 points)
7. Florida (331 points)
8. LSU (291 points)
9. South Carolina (248 points)
10. Alabama (221 points)
11. Arkansas (146 points)
12. Vanderbilt (30 points)

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
Men's 50 free (Caeleb Dressel) – 18.46
Men's 200 free relay (Enzo Martinez-Scarpe, Caeleb Dressel, Jan Switkowski, Jack Blyzinskyj) – 1:15.67
*Men's 100 fly (Caeleb Dressel) – 44.21
*Men's 200 free (Maxime Rooney) – 1:32.18

*Titles won Thursday

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