No. 9 Gators Get Back On Track with Win Over No. 14 Bulldogs

Friday, November 1

Gainesville, Fla.

11:00 AM

Florida Gators

163

118

#14 Georgia

Grant Sanders posted two second-place finishes in the Gators' first conference win of the season.

No. 9 Gators Get Back On Track with Win Over No. 14 Bulldogs

Friday, November 1, 2019 | Men's Swimming & Diving

By: Ryan Sosic

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 9 University of Florida (5-1) swimming and diving team defeated the No. 14 Georgia Bulldogs by a final tally of 163-118 in their home opener at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Natatorium on Friday afternoon.

In total, six different Gators would go on to win eight individual events, including taking the top-three spots in the 50 free, 100 fly and 100 breast. Florida would sweep the 200 medley and 400 free relays as well.

The Gators come away with two wins against Georgia today. 🐊 swimming and diving is now a combined 11-1 on the season. #GoGators #WeChomp pic.twitter.com/GNfA9XnULy
— Gators Swimming & Diving (@GatorsSwimDv) November 1, 2019

Kieran Smith set the tone with his 200 free time of 1:34.08, beating the field by almost three full seconds. The effort is the fastest time in the country up to this point of the season and a new personal-best.

Smith's second victory came in the 100 fly as the sophomore finished with an effort of 47.90, the first time he's competed in the event in college.

Marco Guarente walked away with a pair of victories in the 100 and 200 breast. In the 100, the senior finished in 54.59, while hitting the wall in 1:58.59 in the 200.

Teammate Grant Sanders would finish behind Guarente in both events. The pair of Gators both set season-bests in the 100 breast.

Sanders also posted a runner-up bid in the 200 IM, finishing .11 from the top swim.

For the second time this season, Khader Baqlah posted a new personal-record in the 200 fly, hitting the wall in 1:46.82. Later in the meet, he would pick up a distance victory in the 500 free.

Series History

With the win, Florida improves to 13-6-since 1998 against the Bulldogs, increasing their win streak to three straight duals over the conference foe. Additionally, both teams have now been ranked in the top 25 when facing each other for the fourth-straight meeting.

The Gators have now won four home opening duals with Georgia in Gainesville, with their previous wins coming in 2013-14, 2009-10 and 2008-09.

This year's meeting marked the eighteenth-consecutive year the two programs squared off in a dual meet.

Gator Splashes

Will Davis found success in the sprints today, winning the 50 free with a season-best swim of 20.26. In the 100 free, he would post a runner-up bid with his time of 45.55, .40 seconds off the leader. Teammate Gerry Quinn wrapped-up the top-three in the 100 free with his time of 45.60.
Dakota Mahaffey won his second event of the season in the 100 back, hitting the wall in 48.54. The swim is a season-best for the senior.
In the 200 back, Clark Beach won the event after posting a time of 1:44.64. He would go on to finish behind Mahaffey in the 100 back with a time of 48.75.
Eric Friese and Isaac Davis would join Will Davis at the top of the leaderboard in the 50 free as Friese finished in 20.55 with Isaac Davis right behind him in 20.64.
Robert Finke was beat out by Georgia's Andrew Abruzzo by .11 seconds in the 1,000 free to won the distance event. Finke posted a season-best time of 8:59.36.
Gators saw a pair of second and third-place finishes on the board. Alex Farrow hit a new season-best with his runner-up bid of 344.33, while finishing in third-place on the 1-meter. Nick Lydon would switch positions with Farrow in the events, earning the second-best 1-meter score (289.80) and the third-best 3-meter tally (290.55).

Relay Magic

The 200 medley relay team started off the dual on the right note as the team of Dakota Mahaffey, Marco Guarente, Eric Friese and Will Davis took home the victory with a combined swim of 1:28.04.

In the final event of the dual, UF's 400 free relay squad of Baqlah, Smith, Clark Beach and Isaac Davis posted the top time, winning the event with a combined swim of 2:57.06. The runner-up relay was a Florida team consisting of Quinn, Ethan Bach, Friese and Lucas Kravchenko. The team finished in a combined swim of 3:02.02

Quotables

Head coach Anthony Nesty- "First off, I'm very proud of the way our guys came in and competed today against the Bulldogs. It was awesome to get in front of our home crowd for the first time this year and to swim in the O'Dome. I think overall we performed pretty well. I don't remember the last time we went one, two, three in the 50 free, 100 fly and 100 breast, which is an accomplishment because Georgia's flyers are really good. I want to thank Steve Jungbluth, all our assistants and all our support staff for their constant work they do for our program. Looking forward to getting back into the pool next Friday with Florida State."

Head Diving coach Bryan Gillooly- "It was great to have Alex (Farrow) back in good form, especially in the 3-meter event. He put himself in great position and just fell short on his last dive. That experience will be critical down the road. All the boys continue to improve which is great to see."

Looking Ahead:

The Gators will be right back in the O'Dome next Friday at 2:00 p.m. when they swim against in-state opponent Florida State in the Fresh From Florida Sunshine Showdown. This meet will conclude the dual competition for Florida in 2019.

After swimming against the Seminoles, UF will get some time off to train and prepare over the next few weeks before heading to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Invitational on Nov. 22-24. The divers will then compete in the Auburn Diving Invite on Dec. 17-19.

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