Gator relay collects podium finish on opening day of NCAAs

Wednesday, March 22

Indianapolis, IN

6 p.m.

Florida Gators

NCAA Championships

Mark Szaranek, Jan Switkowski, Mitch D'Arrigo and Maxime Rooney represented Florida on the podium Wednesday night.

Gator relay collects podium finish on opening day of NCAAs

Wednesday, March 22, 2017 | Men's Swimming & Diving

The 800 free relay quartet also set a new school record

By: Layne Weitzel

DAY 1 RESULTS | DAY 2 HEAT SHEET
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | PSYCH SHEET

INDIANAPOLIS – The Gator men didn't waste any time earning some hardware at the NCAA Championships today, collecting their first trophy of the four-day meet.

The Florida tandem of Jan Switkowski, Maxime Rooney, Mitch D'Arrigo and Mark Szaranek registered a third-place finish in the 800 free relay, touching in a school-record time of 6:09.30. The foursome broke the previous record of 6:09.84, set by Switkowski, D'Arrigo, Szaranek and former Gator Pawel Werner at the 2016 NCAA Championships.

WATCH: GatorVision's recap from Day 1 of NCAAs

As the top eight finishers in each event receive All-America honors, Switkowski, D'Arrigo and Szaranek each added another All-America accolade to their resumes. Freshman Rooney collected the first one of his Gator career.

Florida begins its meet in earnest tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET with 200 free relay, 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 400 medley relay prelims. 1-meter diving trials will follow at 12:30 p.m.

COMING UP TOMORROW
200 free relay
500 free – Khader Baqlah, Andrew Brady, Blake Manganiello, Maxime Rooney, Ben Lawless, Mitch D'Arrigo
200 IM – Ross Palazzo, Brennan Balogh, Alex Lebed, Jan Switkowski, Mark Szaranek
50 free – Caeleb Dressel
400 medley relay
1-meter – Samuel Smith

Results can be viewed live via the NCAA and will be posted in full on FloridaGators.com at the conclusion of each day of competition. Wednesday and Thursday, as well as Friday's and Saturday's prelims, will be streamed via IUPUIJags.com, and the Friday and Saturday finals can be viewed live on ESPN3. For the full list of streaming links, visit FloridaGators.com.

TEAM STANDINGS (top 4 teams only)
1. NC State (40 points)
2. Texas (34 points)
3. Florida (32 points)
4. California (30 points)

PARTICIPATING GATORS
Qualifying Gators
Brennan Balogh
Khader Baqlah
Andrew Brady
Chandler Bray
Mitch D'Arrigo
Caeleb Dressel
Ben Lawless
Alex Lebed
Blake Manganiello
Ross Palazzo
Maxime Rooney
Samuel Smith
Jan Switkowski
Mark Szaranek

Relay-Only Swimmers
Jack Blyzinskyj
Enzo Martinez-Scarpe

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, March 23
1-meter
200 free relay
500 free
200 IM
50 free
400 medley relay

Friday, March 24
3-meter
400 IM
100 fly
200 free
100 breast
100 back
200 medley relay

Saturday, March 25
Platform
1650 free
200 back
100 free
200 breast
200 fly
400 free relay

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