Gators Chomp Tigers in SEC Opener

Friday, October 12

Baton Rouge, LA

5 PM

Florida Gators

164.5

129.5

LSU

Gators Chomp Tigers in SEC Opener

Friday, October 12, 2018 | Men's Swimming & Diving

By: Chad Smith

BATON ROUGE, La. – The University of Florida men's swimming & diving team returned to action on Friday as it competed in the first SEC meet of the season at LSU. The men were led by Maxime Rooney, as the No. 8-ranked Gators defeated the Tigers, 164.5-129.5.

In the 400-yard medley relay, Bayley Main, Marco Guarente, Maxime Rooney, and Christoph Margotti posted the country's third-fastest time with a swim of 3:15.29. The team of Brennan Balogh, Stanley Wu, Will Davis, and Grady Heath placed third with
a time of 3:20.04.

Trey Freeman clocked the country's fourth-best time in the 1,000 Free, with a mark of 9:02.58. Khader Baqlah finished right behind Freeman, with a time of 9:02.71, which is a new personal best. Drew Clark completed the sweep for the Gators, with a 9:24.81.

Kieran Smith and Heath finished first and second, respectively, in the 200 Free. Smith posted a swim of 1:37.39, while Heath clocked a 1:39.44.

Main recorded a second-place finish in the 100 Back with a time of 48.84. Dakota Mahaffey placed third with a swim of 49.93.

Guarente posted the nation's 10th-fastest time in the 100 Breast, with a mark of 55.27. Grant Sanders notched a personal-best time of 55.52. Stanley Wu completed the sweep for Florida with a time of 55.73.

Rooney and Erge Gezmis finished first and second, respectively, in the 200 Fly. Rooney tied the nation's sixth-fastest time with a mark of 1:47.89. Gezmis swam a 1:50.57.

In the 50 Free, Will Davis placed second with a time of 20.53. Baqlah finished in third after a new personal-best swim of 20.62.

Rooney collected his second individual event win, as he won the 100 Free with a time of 44.57. Margotti notched a swim of 45.61 and placed second. Main tied Karl Luht of LSU for third place with a mark of 45.73.

Smith swam a 1:49.19 in the 200 Back and placed second. Ethan Beach earned a third-place finish with a time of 1:50.21.

Sanders notched a time of 1:59.93, which is the fifth-best time in the country, in the 200 Breast and finished first. Guarente finished right behind in second with a swim of 2:00.47, the seventh-fastest time in the nation.

Robert Finke collected a first-place finish with a time of 4:30.95 in the 500 Free. Clark added another podium with his second-place time of 4:35.82. Mahaffey completed the sweep for the Gators with a time of 4:36.22.

In the 3-meter diving, Alex Farrow placed third for Florida with a score of 368.93, which stopped LSU from completing the sweep. Farrow's score was an NCAA Zone qualifying mark.

Finke added another first-place finish in the 400 IM with a swim of 3:58.27, which is the sixth-best time in the NCAA.

From the coaches – Head Coach Anthony Nesty

"First of all I would like to thank Mr. Stricklin and Mike Spiegler for getting us a charter to Baton Rouge. Hence an easy trip and it was very exciting for our athletes."
"It was a great dual meet. We had people in all events swim well and our fundamentals were better than FAU."
"Great job by all classes: Trey, Bobby, Kieran, Will, Grant, Maxime, Khader, Bayley, Christoph, just to name a few."
"Short week next week and a challenging week as we travel to Austin for a Tri-meet with Texas and Indiana."

From the coaches – Diving Coach Bryan Gillooly

"LSU was great today. They have a lot of talented athletes and Doug Shaffer is a great coach."
"We improved a lot from where we were two weeks ago and were very competitive. We weren't quite at our best yet, but at this point in the season that's okay. LSU has set the bar pretty high for the SEC early in the season."
"Alex Farrow continues to improve every meet. He had a personal best in the 3-meter."

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