Beach And Finke Tally Bronze Medals On Final Day of U.S. Open

Saturday, December 7

Atlanta, Ga.

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US Open

Clark Beach reeled in his a bronze medal after his third-place finish in the 200 back A-Final on the last night of the U.S. Open.

Beach And Finke Tally Bronze Medals On Final Day of U.S. Open

Saturday, December 7, 2019 | Men's Swimming & Diving

By: Ryan Sosic

Full Results | U.S. Olympic Trial Standards | Day One Recap | Day Two Recap | Day Three Recap |

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Clark Beach and Robert Finke wrapped-up the 2019 Toyota U.S. Open by tallying bronze medals on the final day of the event at the McAuley Aquatic Center.

Over their four days in Atlanta, Florida swimmers reeled in four medals, a silver and three bronze, and 20 U.S. Olympic trial cuts.

Beach earned his bronze by registering a swim of 1:59.42, which gives the junior his second Olympic trial cut of the competition. He posted the third-best time in the prelims as well.

Finke registered a third-place finish in the 1,500 free with his effort of 15:05.55. He would touch the wall 2.26 seconds faster than the fourth-place finisher and the swim gave him his fourth Olympic trial cut at the competition.

Three current Gators joined Finke in the 1,500 free event, with Brennan Gravley posting the best time of the trio as the freshman touched the wall in 15:52.24. Matt Anderson would go on to finish just four places behind him in 37th with his swim of 15:53.51. The final finisher for Florida was Advait Page, who posted a time of 15:58.82, good for 43rd-place.

Kieran Smith qualified for the A-Final with Clark Beach after producing a new 200 back lifetime best and Olympic trial cut of 2:00.33 in the prelims. In the finals, he would finish right behind Beach in fourth with an effort of 2:00.63.

The 100 free featured the most Gators in an event on day four as six swimmers would hit the water.

Khader Baqlah would lead the pack, tallying a time of 49.30 in the B-Final, good for second-place and tied for the seventh-fastest swim overall. His swim of 49.90 was the 12^th-best in the prelims.

In the prelims, Smith added his sixth Olympic trial cut in Atlanta with his time of 50.15. The final four Gators were Bayley Main (51.29), Gerry Quinn (51.32), Enzo Martinez-Scarpe (51.73) and Mitch D'Arrigo (51.81).

Former UF All-Americans Ryan Lochte and Caeleb Dressel both swam in a B-Final on Saturday night.

In the 200 back B-Final, Lochte would win the event by .64 seconds with his effort of 1:59.26. The time was the third-fastest overall swim.

Dressel would go on to win the B-Final of the 200 fly with his final swim of 1:58.45. The time was the sixth-fastest time overall in the finals.

Marco Guarente made it to his first final of the event, posting an Olympic trial cut and an eighth-place finish in the 200 breast B-Final with his swim of 2:16.48.

Grant Sanders competed in a pair of events on the day. In the 200 breast, the senior would produce an effort of 2:19.52 and a 34^th-place finish and added a time of 2:08.66 in the 200 back.

Gator Medals

-Smith- Silver (400 Free)
-Beach- Bronze (200 Back)
-Finke- Bronze (1,500 Free)
-Lochte- Bronze (200 IM)

Gator Trial Cuts

-Beach (100 Back, 200 Back)
-Dressel (200 Free, 200 Fly, 200 IM)
-Finke (400 Free, 800 Free, 1,500 Free, 400 IM)
-Lochte (200 Back, 200 IM, 400 IM)
-Sanders (200 IM, 400 IM)
-Smith (100 Free, 200 Free, 400 Free, 800 Free, 200 Back, 200 IM)

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