Gators Chomp Tigers for First SEC Win of Season

Friday, October 18

Columbia, MO

10:30 AM

Florida Gators

176

124

#6 Missouri

Rosie Zavaros won the 200 back in personal-best fashion against the Tigers.

Gators Chomp Tigers for First SEC Win of Season

Friday, October 18, 2019 | Women's Swimming & Diving

By: Ryan Sosic

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gator women's swimming and diving team defeated the No. 6 Missouri Tigers 176-124 at the Mizzou Aquatic Center to improve their record to 5-0 on the season.

The 5-0 start is the best for the program since the 2003-04 season when the Gators won their first five duals to start off the year.

UF is outscoring their opponents by a tally of 995.5- 491.5 over this current win streak.

Eleven event victories by nine different Gators paced Florida to their first conference win of the season, led by a pair of wins by Leah Braswell and Ashley McCool.

Braswell carried the momentum from her two-win effort against Minnesota to Columbia as the sophomore again picked up two victories, highlighted by a season-best 500 free swim of 4:46.38., securing a B-cut in the process. The swim is the fourth fastest across the nation this year. She would take the top spot in the 200 free as well with a new personal-best swim of 1:47.13.

McCool, named the SEC Women's Diver of the Week for the second consecutive week on Tuesday, swept the diving events for the fourth time this season. The junior posted a season-best on the 3-meter with a score of 344.78 and hit the top score on the 1-meter with a tally of 293.93.

Series History

With the 176-124 win, the Gators now improve their all-time record to 2-0 over Missouri.

This dual meet marked the first time the teams have squared off since a 2013-14 dual that Florida won 181-109. The two programs have never competed in Gainesville as both duals have taken place at the Mizzou Aquatic Center in Columbia, Mo.

Gator Splashes

Kelly Fertel won the 200 IM with the fifth-fastest time in the nation of 1:58.76, which marks a season-best and earns her a B-cut. She also posted a runner-up bid in 200 fly with a new personal-best swim of 1:59.73.
Rosie Zavaros was the one of five Gators to finish with a new career-best time, hitting the wall in 1:54.94 in the 200 back. She cut almost a full-second from her previous best at last year's SEC Championships. The other two Gators to tally new top-times were Savanna Faulconer (2:01.38 in the 200 fly) and Gabby Hillis (22.61 in the 50 free).
The Gators finished led the 1,000 free with the top three finishes, highlighted by Taylor Ault's first win of the season. Ault finished in 9:51.83 with Georgia Darwent behind her with a swim of 9:53.85. Faulconer rounded out the top finishers in third with a time of 9:54.11.
Allie Piccirillo earned her third victory of her freshman season as she hit the wall in the 200 fly in 1:59.37, beating out Fertel by .36 seconds.
Sherridon Dressel continued the strong start to her year with a victory in the 100 fly. She would hit the wall in 53.74 seconds. She also added a runner-up nod in the 100 back with her time of 52.35. She earned B-cuts in both events.
Vanessa Pearl's victory came in the 200 breast (2:11.60). The time earned her a B-cut and her seventh win through the first five meets. The sophomore also added a third-place finish in the 100 breast with a swim of 1:02.26.
Elizabeth Perez posted a third-place finish in the 3-meter with a season-best score of 282.90
In addition to Braswell's season-best in the 500 free, Ault and Kathleen Golding also posted their best swim of the season and rounded out the top-three finishers of the event.

Relay Magic

The 400 free relay squad of Dressel, Talia Bates, Hillis and Garofalo beat the rest of the field by almost four seconds in the last event of the meet. The group was led by Hillis with the best split of 48.99.

In the 200 medley relay, the Gators had the second and third place finishers.

Dressel, Pearl, Bates and Garofalo would combine for the second-fastest combined swim of 1:38.98 while the group of Emma Ball, Fertel, Golding and Hillis finished right after them in 1:39.84.

Garofalo had the fastest split by a Gator in the event, anchoring the runner-ups with a time of 22.41.

Quotables

Head coach Jeff Poppell- "We are extremely proud of the effort by our women today against a strong Missouri team. They definitely had to endure some adversity with 9.5 hours of travel yesterday, an evening arrival, and then compete at 9:30 a.m. (CT time) this morning. However, they did a fantastic job of rising above and competing tough, which should benefit us greatly at the end of the season. After two straight weeks on the road, we are looking forward to having a week off from competition before facing Georgia at home the following week. Go Gators! "

Head Diving coach Bryan Gillooly- "The women were once again led by Ashley McCool, who is right on schedule for this time of the season. We are still working her back into shape after a summer off. I think she is realizing what she is capable of. This was her high score on 3-meter as a Gator and now we are looking to start adding some difficulty to her list. If she can stay healthy, the sky is the limit for her."

Looking Ahead:

Florida will return home with their undefeated record of 5-0 to Gainesville to host a pair of duals at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, starting with another top-10 battle against No. 8 Georgia on Nov. 1.

No. 24 Florida State will then travel to Gainesville for the Fresh From Florida Sunshine Showdown on Nov. 8 at the O'Dome.

The pair of home meets will wrap-up the Gators dual meets for 2019, but the team will be back in the pool at the Georgia Tech Invitational on Nov. 22-24 in Atlanta, Ga.

In the middle of December, the divers will compete in the annual Auburn Diving Invitational on Dec. 17-19.

As the dual meets ramp up in 2020, Florida's future schedule will remain tough. As of now, every dual opponent is ranked in the CSCAA Top 25 poll.

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