Full results
GAINESVILLE, FLA. – The No. 1 University of Florida women's swimming and diving team cruised to a 195-104 victory over in-state rival No. 20 Florida State in the Sunshine Showdown on Friday.
Florida (7-0) would remain undefeated on the season after posting the top times in 13-of-14 swimming events, highlighted by sweeping the top-three swims in the 200, 500 and 1,000 free.
Individually, four Gators would go on to win two events, highlighted by new career-best swims by
Nikki Miller in the 1,000 free and
Kelly Fertel in the 200 fly.
Coming off a sweep in the dives last week against Georgia,
Elizabeth Perez posted the top 3-meter score, tallying an overall mark of 339.08.
Lauren Snider excelled on the 3-meter board as well, hitting a season-best score of 293.55.
Ashley McCool returned to action and finished in second-place on the 1-meter. The two-time SEC Diver of the Week posted a mark of 300.90.
Series History
This year marked the 47th contest between Florida and Florida State.
With the 195-104 win, Florida now leads the all-time series 44-3 and has won the last 11 meets in the Gainesville.
Last season, Florida handed FSU their only loss on the year as the Gators came out victorious by a tally of 177.5-122.5.
From 1972-2007, UF won 33 consecutive meets.
Gator Splashes
- Taylor Ault was one of four Gators to post two event wins today as the junior won the 200 and 500 free. Talia Bates, Kelly Fertel and Sherridon Dressel also joined her as the other Gators to post a pair of individual victories. Bates won the sprint events with Fertel winning the 200 fly and breast. Dressel was able to come away with a B-cut in the 100 back and the top swim in the 100 fly.
- Freshmen Katheen Golding and Tylor Mathieu finished behind Miller's personal-best effort in the 1,000 free. Golding was right behind Miller as she touched the wall in the 10:01.61, while Mathieu rounded out the top-three with her time of 10:08.19.
- Golding and Mathieu shined in additional events in the dual. Golding won the 200 IM with her swim of 2:02.65, barely missing her top time set in the opening week of the season. Mathieu would go on to post a personal-best in the 500 free later in the meet, finishing in 4:53.28, four seconds faster than her previous best.
- Rosie Zavaros notched a B-cut in the 200 back for the second straight meet as she won the event with an effort of 1:55.80. Savanna Faulconer posted a third-place finish behind her.
- Sophomore Leah Braswell competed in some different events in today's dual, posting runner-up finishes in the 200 free behind Ault and 200 IM behind Golding.
- Bella Garofalo posted second-place and third-place finishes in the sprints behind Bates. Garofalo finished runner-up in the 100 free with a time of 50.27 and third-place in the 50 free with her time of 23.22.
Relay Magic
The 400 medley relay team of
Emma Ball, Fertel, Dressel and Garofalo got Florida off on the right note, combining for the top swim of 3:38.64 in the opening event.
To cap off the dual, Bates, Ball, Dressel and Garofalo beat the 200 free relay field by almost two full seconds, combining for an effort of 1:30.82.
Garofalo posted the top split in the 400 medley, while Dressel had the fastest split of 22.39 in the 200 free.
Quotables
Head coach Jeff Poppell –
On the win…
"It's the Sunshine Showdown for a reason. It's our in-state rival, obviously the other main university here in the state. It's always fun to compete against them."
On the freshmen's performance today…
"
Talia Bates, those were her first wins on the season in the 50 free and 100 free and was instrumental in that last relay leading it off.
Kathleen Golding as well in the 200 IM. One of our freshmen,
Tylor Mathieu, in the 500 free had an incredible swim today. It was her lifetime best in-season swim… We've had the freshmen contribute in spots (throughout the season), but you saw a group of them playing a major impact in what we do."
On the biggest bright spot today…
"The thing I liked the best was the grit. They just continued to race. No matter what the score was at that point (halfway through the meet), we all kind of knew we had the meet at that point, they just kept racing and competing. To me, that says a lot."
Head Diving coach Bryan Gillooly- "Elizabeth (Perez) has been struggling with a couple dives on 3-meter for the past year. She was finally able to put them together at right time. I think this will really help her confidence moving forward. It was great having Ashley (McCool) back who just missed winning the 1- meter after not practicing for two weeks.
Lauren Snider had a season-best on the 3-meter."
Looking Ahead:
The meet with Florida State marked the Gators' final meet of 2019 and will head into 2020 with a perfect 7-0 dual record.
Swimmers and divers will each travel to different invitationals to wrap up competition in 2019 as the swimmers will travel to Atlanta to compete in the Georgia Tech Invitational on Nov. 22-24.
The divers will take part in the Auburn Diving Invitational on Dec. 17-19 in Auburn, Ala.
The women will be back in action at the O'Dome Natatorium on Jan. 3 as they host a quad-meet with Vanderbilt, North Florida and Liberty at 2:00 p.m.
Follow the Gators:
| FloridaGators.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook |
