Day One in Books for Gators in Atlanta

Friday, November 22

Atlanta, Ga.

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Georgia Tech Invitational

Ethan Beach set a new personal-best in the 200 IM during the first day at the Georgia Tech Invitational.

Day One in Books for Gators in Atlanta

Friday, November 22, 2019 | Men's Swimming & Diving

By: Ryan Sosic

GAINESVILLE, Fla—The No. 6 University of Florida swimming and diving team registered a total of 164 points on the first day of the Georgia Tech Invitational, good for sixth-place.

Florida State leads the field with 291.5 points, with Utah behind them in second-place with 244.5 points.

Gators sent 11 into the finals after a morning session with six new personal-bests and five season-best swims.

Alfonso Mestre continued to find his mark in the 500 free, tallying the third-fastest swim with a time of 4:21.05, besting his previous personal-best he sent in the prelims by almost two seconds.

Dillon Hillis posted a fifth-place finish in the 200 IM finals with his swim of 1:47.34. Ethan Beach joined him, hitting the wall in 1:49.19, good for 13th-place and a new career-best swim. Beach would finish the prelims in 16th, less than a second away from a top-10 time and a spot in the A-final.

Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week Eric Friese finished the 50 free finals in a time of 19.73, his best as a Gator. In the prelims, the Potsdam, Germany native hit the wall in 20.07, which served as a new PR at the time.

Gator Splashes

The 500 free was the Gators' most successful event. Four freshmen registered new personal-best swims in their first collegiate invitational. Kevin Vargas (4:26.38), Tyler Watson (4:27.58) and Advait Page (4:33.23) all joined Mestre by tallying new top swims.
In the lone diving event of the day, Alex Farrow tallied a 3-meter prelim score of 309.55, good for 12th place. Santiago Morales was the other Florida diver to compete, finishing in 20th place with a score of 240.95.
Four Gators put together their best 50 free swim on the year in the final individual event of the prelims. Isaac Davis, Will Davis, and Jack Szaranek all moved onto the evening finals with their swims, while Viktor Toth just missed the a spot in the finals with his season-best swim of 20.90.

Relay Magic

The Gators would go on to post a pair of sixth-place finishes in both relay events.

In the 200 free Relay of Friese, Will Davis, Isaac Davis and Szaranek combined for a swim of 1:19.25.

The 400 medley relay Dakota Mahaffey, Hillis, Friese and Will Davis tallied a swim of 3:10.87 in the final event of the night.

Will Davis would notch the fastest splits in each relay.

Quotables

Head coach Anthony Nesty- "It was good to get back into the pool at this event. It forces some of our guys to be put into different situations and I thought we handled that pretty well. We will look forward to improving over the next couple days here in Atlanta."

Event Schedule

Saturday, Nov. 23

Event 13- Women's 200 Medley Relay
Event 14- Men's 200 Medley Relay
Event 15- Women's 400 IM
Event 16- Men's 400 IM
Event 17- Women's 100 Fly
Event 18- Men's 100 Fly
Event 19- Women's200 Free
Event 20- Men's 200 Free
Event 21- Women's 100 Breast
Event 22- Men's 100 Breast
Event 23- Women's100 Back
Event 24- Men's 100 Back
Event 25- Women's Diving
Event 26- Men's Diving
Event 27- Women's 800 Free Relay
Event 28- Women's 800 Free Relay

Sunday, Nov. 24

Event 29- Women's 1650 Free
Event 30- Men's 1650 Free
Event 31- Women's 200 Back
Event 32- Men's 200 Back
Event 33- Women's 100 Free
Event 34- Men's 100 Free
Event 35- Women's 200 Breast
Event 36- Men's 200 Breast
Event 37- Women's 200 Fly
Event 38- Men's 200 Fly
Event 39- Women's Platform Diving
Event 40- Men's Platform Diving
Event 41- Women's 400 Free Relay
Event 42- Men's 400 Free Relay

Looking ahead:

The Gators will be right back into the pool on Saturday and Sunday for the final two days of the invitational. The prelims will begin at 10:00 a.m. and the finals will start at 5:30 p.m.

The meet will serve as the final event for the swimmers for 2019, while the Florida's divers will compete in the Auburn Diving Invitational in Alabama on Dec. 17-19.

The Gators will have a nice break before coming back to the O'Connell Center Natatorium when they welcome Auburn on Jan. 25. The meet will serve as Senior Day and the final home dual of the season.

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