UF women post strong fourth day of SEC prelims

Florida's women are flying high after an impressive morning of prelims.

UF women post strong fourth day of SEC prelims

Friday, February 17, 2017 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

By: Layne Weitzel

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Although the Florida women have recorded season-bests and NCAA-qualifying marks throughout the SEC Championships, Friday's prelims proved to be one of their strongest performances yet.

All five female swimmers who appeared in prelims have qualified for finals (with two in their respective events' A-final), and two divers placed in the top 10 on platform despite competing on the towers for only the second time this season. One will move on to the finals competition.

DIVING
Rested from an off-day yesterday, the Gator women competed on platform early this afternoon. Florida has dived off the towers just once prior to this week at the Georgia Tech Invitational back in November, but the team rose to the occasion today.

Both Teya Syskakis and Abigail Howell finished in the top 10, with Howell scoring 261.10 to place 10^th and Syskakis totaling 271.40 to finish sixth. Syskakis advances to the platform finals later tonight as the first female Gator to make a diving final this week.

Next to place was Brooke Madden at 19^th, who collected a score of 229.45. Miranda Goss followed up in 29^th with 205.20 points, and Brianna Felegi rounded out the Gator lineup at 32^nd with 192.15 points.

All five women surpassed their scores at Georgia Tech, and Syskakis, Howell and Madden scored above the NCAA zone-qualifying standard (Syskakis also qualified for zones with a 258.85 score in November).

200 fly
The women got off to a great start Friday morning with the first event of the day. Three Gators competed in the preliminary heats, and all three qualified for finals. Alyssa Yambor-Maul finished seventh overall, earning a ticket to the A-final with a B-cut 1:57.34. Fellow senior Taylor Katz followed up at 10^th with another 1:57.87 B-cut. Youngster Kay Sargent made the C-final with a B-cut 1:59.56.

On the men's side, both Andrew Brady and Alex Lebed swam in the first heat. Brady placed 32^nd overall with a B-cut, season-best time of 1:47.06, while Lebed finished 35^th with a season-best 1:48.39.

Juniors Jan Switkowski and Mark Szaranek qualified for the A-final, finishing respectively in second and fifth overall. Switkowski clocked a B-cut and season-best 1:43.04, while Szaranek touched in 1:43.49, also a B-cut and season-best.

100 back
Emma Ball turned out a season-best, B-cut time of 52.49 to earn the 7-seed for tonight's A-final. She'll be one of two freshmen in the race.

Sydney Sell, another underclassman, touched in a B-cut and season-best 53.50 to place 13^th overall. She advances to the B-final.

On the men's side, Jack Blyzinskyj made the B-final after finishing 11^th overall at 46.82, a season-best B-cut.

Bayley Main initially tied for 16^th with Tennessee's Joey Reilman at 47.40, forcing the pair to a swim-off to determine who would advance to the B-final. Main won the swim-off at 46.57, joining Blyzinskyj in the B-final and sending Reilman to the C-final.

100 breast
Chandler Bray served as Florida's only entry on both sides of the event. He timed a season-best and B-cut 53.03 to advance to the A-final. He'll be the youngest competitor and only underclassman in the group.

Competition will continue tonight at 6 p.m. with finals for the 200 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, women's platform and 400 medley relay.

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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