No. 8/19 Gators Head to Austin for Battle Against Ranked Teams

Thursday, October 18, 2018 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

By: Chad Smith

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida men's and women's swimming & diving teams head to Austin, Texas, for a matchup against Texas and Indiana. The tri-meet will begin on Friday, Oct. 19 and conclude on Saturday, Oct. 20.

The Gator men come into this weekend's tri-meet ranked No. 8 and the Gator women are currently ranked No. 19. The Longhorns are the No. 1 team for men and No. 4 for the women. The Hoosiers' men enter the weekend ranked No. 3, while the women enter ranked No. 6.

Last season, the Florida men's team defeated Texas, 140-103, but fell to Indiana 138-105. On the women's side, the Gators were knocked off by the Longhorns 167.50-75.50 and by the Hoosiers 144-99.

Earlier this week, The Gators combined for three of the six SEC weekly honors. Maxime Rooney was the men's swimmer of the week, while Trey Freeman and Vanessa Pearl secured freshman of the week honors for Florida.

The men are led by Maxime Rooney, who holds Top-15 times in the 100 Fly (7th), 200 Fly (11th), and 100 Free (15th). Grant Sanders holds the 3rd-fastest time in the 200 IM and ninth-fastest time in the 200 Breast. Freeman sits as the fourth-ranked mark in the 1000 Free and 12th in the 500 Free. Marco Guarente has the 13th-fastest time in the 200 Breast and 15th-fastest in the 100 Breast. Khader Baqlah claims the 5th-fastest time in the 1000 Free. Kieran Smith has the fifth-fastest mark in the 200 Free, while Robert Finke is ranked ninth in the 400 IM.

Pearl leads the women with the fourth-fastest swim in the 400 IM, the sixth-fastest time in the 200 IM, and the 12th-best mark in the 200 Breast. Mabel Zavaros holds the eighth-fastest swim in the 400 IM and the 10th-best time in the 200 Back and 200 Fly. Emma Ball and Sherridon Dressel have the fifth- and eighth-best times, respectively, in the 100 Back. Kelly Fertel comes in with the seventh-best time in the 400 IM, while Hannah Burns has the 14th-best time. In the 1000 Free, Leah Braswell is currently the seventh fastest, while Taylor Ault is the 14th fastest.

Event Schedule

Friday 6 p.m.	Saturday 11 a.m.
400 Medley Relay	200 Medley Relay
200 Freestyle	500 Freestyle
100 Backstroke	200 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke	100 Freestyle
200 Butterfly	200 Breaststroke
50 Freestyle	100 Butterfly
1,000 Freestyle	400 Individual Medley
200 Individual Medley	400 Freestyle Relay
200 Freestyle Relay