Eight Gators Swim Into Day Three Finals at U.S. Open

Friday, December 6

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Grant Sanders was one of three Gators to swim in the 400 IM A-Final.

Eight Gators Swim Into Day Three Finals at U.S. Open

Friday, December 6, 2019 | Men's Swimming & Diving

By: Ryan Sosic

Psych Sheet | TV Schedule | U.S. Olympic Trial Standards

Gainesville, Fla. – Eight Gators swam their way into the finals on day three of the 2019 Toyota U.S. Open at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of Georgia Tech.

This marks the second consecutive day that Florida has had eight swimmers in the evening finals after matching the feat during day two of competition.

After qualifying for the B-Final, Kieran Smith came back in the evening and posted a 200 free time of 1:47.26, the third-fastest swim overall and the fastest in his respective final. The time was a full second and a half faster than his prelim effort and secured him an Olympic trial cut.

Former Gator All-Americans Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Lochte both posted fifth-place finishes in A-Finals of an individual event.

Dressel finish fifth in the 200 free with his final time of 1:47.58, shaving a full half second off his effort from the prelims, while Lochte hit the wall in 4:19.72 in the 400 IM. Both times earned the pair Olympic trial cuts.

A pair of current Gators joined Lochte in the A -Final, with Robert Finke finishing right behind Lochte with his time of 4:20.84. Grant Sanders would post an eighth-place finish with his overall effort of 4:22.06. The pair both improved on their time from the prelims and earned Olympic trial cuts.

Khader Baqlah qualified for the A-Final of the 200 free after his prelim swim of 1:47.97, the third-fastest swim overall. He would go onto to post an eighth-place finish in the A-final as the third Gator in the event.

After posting a new lifetime LCM best in the 400 IM prelims (4:29.84), Advait Page qualified for the C-Final and finished in 22nd overall for the event.

Brennan Gravley joined his freshman classmate in the prelims, touching the wall in a swim of 4:33.74.

The final Gator finalist was Clark Beach, who moved into his first final of the event after posting the 11th-best time in the prelims of 55.54. He would go on to improve on that time, hitting the wall in 55.54 to finish fourth in the B-final.

The time gave him his first Olympic trial cut in Atlanta.

Alum Mich D'Arrigo and Gerry Quinn joined the 200 free field. D'Arrigo would post a prelim swim of 1:51.96, while Quinn hit the wall in 1:53.13, good for 56th.

The second Florida representative in the 100 back was Bayley Main, who would secure a swim of 57.28.

A trio of Gators competed in the 100 breast on Friday morning, with Marco Guarente posting the best finish of 32nd (1:02.86). Grant Sanders would hit the wall in 1:03.61 (t-43rd) and Enzo Martinez-Scarpe finished tied for 67th with his swim of 1:05.05.

Saturday will mark the fourth and final day of swimming at the McAuley Aquatic Center, with the 1,500 free prelims will kicking things off at 8:00 a.m.

Gator Trial Cuts

-Clark Beach (100 Back)
-Dressel (200 Free, 200 IM)
-Finke (400 Free, 800 Free, 400 IM)
- Lochte (200 IM, 400 IM)
-Sanders (200 IM, 400 IM)
-Smith (200 Free, 400 Free, 800 Free, 200 IM)

Remaining Event Schedule

Event Number (Women)	Day/Event	Event Number (Men's)
Prelims at 8:00 a.m.	Saturday	Finals at 6:30 p.m.
19	1,500 Free	20
21	200 Back	22
23	100 Free	24
25	200 Breast	26
27	200 Fly	28

Gator Events

Saturday
1,500 free- Anderson, Finke, Gravely, Page
200 Back- Clark Beach, Lochte, Sanders, Smith
100 Free- Baqlah, Dressel, Main, Lochte, Quinn, Smith
200 Breast- Guarente, Sanders
200 Fly- Baqlah, Dressel
*subject to change

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