Gators Conclude Second Day at Georgia Tech Invitational

Sophomore Dillon Hillis tallied a new career-best in the 100 fly and secured a B-cut in the 100 breast during the second day in Atlanta.

Gators Conclude Second Day at Georgia Tech Invitational

Saturday, November 23, 2019 | Men's Swimming & Diving

By: Ryan Sosic

Full Day Two Results

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Through the second day of competition, the No. 6 University of Florida stayed steady in sixth-place with 421.5 points at the Georgia Tech Invitational inside the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Ga.

Florida State will head into the last day of the competition in the lead with 675.5 points, with Utah behind them with a team score of 561.5.

Florida swimmers would set six new career-best times and secure three B-cuts in five individual events on Saturday, and send 17 swimmers into the evening finals.

Kevin Vargas dominated the field in the 400 IM finals, beating the field by almost five full seconds. The freshman would drop 4.55 seconds from his morning swim that was his previous best. Tyler Watson and Advait Page also improved tremendously from their morning swims. Page joined Vargas by dropping 4.5 seconds, helping him win the C-final, while Watson shaved 1.5 seconds off his prelim swim to finish in ninth-place overall.

Eric Friese advanced to the 100 fly finals with the top swim of 46.39, a new lifetime best. In the finals, Friese posted a swim of 46.57, finishing .31 seconds behind the first-place finisher. Dillon Hillis also posted a new career-best in the event, touching the wall in 47.47. He would later go on to win the B-final with a time of 47.97.

A Florida trio qualified for the 100 back finals, highlighted by a seventh-place finish by Dakota Mahaffey and an eighth-place finish by Ethan Beach. Tyler Silver would go on to win the B-final with a time of 49.11.

Gator Splashes

Will Davis, Isaac Davis and Silver all joined Hillis and Friese in the 100 fly finals, as the trio would finish in 12th, 16th and 18th, respectively.
Alfonso Mestre set his lifetime-best in the 200 free in the morning prelims with his swim of 1:39.34. He would go on to follow that up by dropping 1.46 seconds off the time to produce the fastest time in the C-Final. Jorge Depassier qualified for the B-final, finishing in 19th with his time of 1:39.62
In the 100 breast prelims, Hillis just missed out on a new lifetime-best as the sophomore notched a B-cut with his swim of 53.45 . The time was .18 seconds off a PR, which is the third-fastest time in UF history. In the finals, Hillis would finish in eighth-place with a time of 53.67.
Chandler Bray posted a B-cut in the B-final of the 100 breast, touching the wall in 54.05. The time was good for 12th-place.
Alex Farrow and Santiago Morales both hit the 1-meter springboard to head Florida's diving effort. Farrow would go on to finish in 12th with an overall total of 273.20 and Morales would tally a score of 202.10, good for 23rd.

Relay Magic

UF would go on to post six-place finishes in both relay events on Saturday evening.

The 200 medley relay of Mahaffey, Hillis, Friese, Will Davis combined for a swim of 1:26.62 in the first event of the evening finals. Will Davis would anchor the relay with the fastest split, hitting the wall in 19.64.

In the final event of the day, the 800 free relay squad of Mahaffey, Depassier, Ethan Beach (top split) and Alfonso Mestre posted with their combined swim of 6:33.61.

Quotables

Head coach Anthony Nesty- "Our guys had a great night of racing. At this time in the season, we are still in our training phase however, despite this, our men swam well even against teams who prepared for this meet. We achieved some season best times regardless and we will continue to press forward per our training schedule. Our men will remain focused and committed to our team plan. I want to thank our support staff and Administration for their continued support."

Head diving coach Bryan Gillooly- "Although the men came up short of the final, I'm really happy with where they are right now in their training. They have been making a lot of progress and are setting themselves up to make a great run in the spring. It's just a matter of putting their dives together at the right time, at SECs and (NCAA) Zones."

Scores After Day Two

Team (Place)	Points
Florida State (1st)	675.5
Utah (2nd)	561.5
North Carolina (3rd)	552
Alabama (4th)	471
Georgia Tech (5th)	469
Florida (6th)	421.5
South Carolina (7th)	294
East Carolina (8th)	292.5
Virginia (9th)	63

Sunday Schedule of Events

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:

Florida will be right back in the pool on Sunday for the final day 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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