No. 9 Gators Chomp Tigers in Senior Meet

Saturday, January 25

Gainesville, Fla.

11:00 AM

Florida Gators

204

Auburn

Kieran Smith posted a new lifetime-best swim and won three events as he led Florida on Saturday afternoon.

No. 9 Gators Chomp Tigers in Senior Meet

Saturday, January 25, 2020 | Men's Swimming & Diving

By: Ryan Sosic

Results

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In its first dual action in over two months, the No. 9 University of Florida swimming and diving team handled conference foe Auburn 204-96 in front of a capacity crowd at the O'Connell Center Natatorium on Saturday.

Prior to the meet, Florida recognized 11 seniors for their contributions to the Gator swimming and diving program.

Overall, UF walked away with 13 event victories, highlighted by registering the top-three finishes in the 200 back, 200 breast, 400 IM and 1,000 free (Friday night). The Tigers picked up their event wins in the 200 free, 100 fly and 1-meter dive.

Kieran Smith's three-win performance helped the Gators (7-1) claim their second conference win of the season. Smith would a post new career-best in his 100 free swim of 43.50 and post additional wins in the 100 back (47.96) and the 400 IM, beating the field by over two seconds.

Florida also controlled the relays, picking up wins in the 200 medley and 400 free.

Dakota Mahaffey, Marco Guarente, Eric Friese and Will Davis claimed the 200 medley win, combining for an effort of 1:27.83, less than a full second faster than Auburn's top relay that finished second.

The 400 free relay was won by Khader Baqlah, Will Davis, Eric Friese and Smith tallied an overall time of 2:56.85, just under three seconds faster than the runner-ups.

Alex Farrow would go out with a lifetime-best dive in his last competition at the O'Dome, winning the 3-meter with an overall tally of 370.28, 1.35 higher than his previous best.

Gator Splashes

Marco Guarente put together a two-win performance in his final meet at the O'Dome, winning the 100 breast (54.26) and 200 breast (1:59.07). His 100 time earned him a B-cut.
- Fellow seniors Grant Sanders and Chandler Bray would join Guarente in the 100 breast to round-out the fastest three swims.
- In the 200 breast, Bray would earn himself another third-place finish, hitting the wall in 2:06.83. Freshman Kevin Vargas would earn a runner-up bid with his effort of 2:02.72.
Robert Finke dominated the 1,000 free on Friday night, winning the event by six full seconds. He would improve on his previous lifetime-best in the event by almost two full seconds after hitting the wall. His time of 8:47.47 is tied for the second-best time this season.
Matthew Anderson would set two new personal-bests in both the distance races, touching the wall in 9:12.68 in the 1,000 free and posting a time of 4:29.19 in the 500 free. His new 1,000 breast best was cut by 11 seconds.
Also excelling in the distance events in his last meet in home water was Khader Baqlah. The senior won the 500 free with his swim of 4:23.97, six seconds faster than the second-place finisher. He also added a runner-up bid in the 1,000 as well.
Clark Beach, Finke and Ethan Beach stood at the top of the 200 back as the group would post the top-three swims. Clark Beach earned the victory with his swim of 1:43.78.
For the first time this season, Will Davis hit the wall in under 20 seconds in the 50 free as his effort of 19.98 gave him the win.
Miguel Cancel took the 200 fly title home with his swim of 1:48.11, the first victory of the season.
Gerry Quinn claimed a pair of second-place finishes with season-best swims the both the 100 and 200 free.
Joining Smith at the top of the 400 IM leaderboard was Grant Sanders and Finke. Sanders hit the wall in a B-cut effort of 3:50.53, good for second and Finke touched in third with his time of 3:56.05.

Series History

The win extends Florida's dual win streak over Auburn to four, and improves its all-time record against the Tigers to 30-16.

On their current streak, UF has outscored Auburn by an overall tally of 732-465.

From 1999-2008, the Tigers had the upper hand, winning 10 straight meets over the Gators.

Quotables

Head coach Anthony Nesty-
On swimming in front of a capacity crowd today....
"It makes it even more special (that it is Senior Day) because that means people not only came to watch the meet, but also to honor our seniors as well."

On how they competed in the last home meet of the season...
"I think the team swam real well. The seniors are sort of dear to my heart. This is only my second senior class and like I said before they're dear to my heart. We have a long way to go still, but hopefully we will get the job done over the next three weeks."

On what this senior class means to the Gator swimming program
"When I became the head coach, they really gelled as far as a team, as a group of young men. They adhere to our group values, which is honesty and respect and we're going to continue to have that because the guys coming in, they obviously look to those guys so hopefully we can continue that tradition."

Head diving coach Bryan Gillooly-

On his emotions going into the dual…
"A lot of emotions today. I knew that was going to be the case. We had a tough competition against Auburn… It always comes down to a close meet so every point counts so that means your third, fourth and fifth-places count a lot too. It's Senior Day so it's the last home meets for Alex, Abby and Brooke tonight. A lot of excitement. The crowd here at the O'Dome is always loud and exciting as well so how are you going to handle that and how are you going to perform under that pressure, and to see them come through tonight (Friday), I couldn't be happier."

On what Senior Night means for his divers…
"It's Senior Night. It means a lot to these kids. These kids are Gators. They've been here for a long time… This place means a lot and for it to be your last meet, you're leaving something that is a big part of your life."

On Alex Farrow…
"Alex came in as a walk-on, high schooler diver with only a 1-meter list. He bought in to what we're doing here and my vision. Through the thick and thin, ups and downs , he has had my back and I've had his, and this is the result. It means everything to me. I'm proud of him."

Looking Ahead

Florida will finish the 2019-20 season portion of their schedule when they take on the No. 12 Volunteers in their season finale on Feb. 1 at 10 a.m. in Knoxville.

The Gators will then enter championship season, beginning with the SEC Championships on Feb. 18-22 hosted by Auburn. Last season, the team won its seventh-straight conference title with 1,233 points over the four-day competition.

Next up on the docket after SEC's will be the NCAA Diving Zones on March 9-11.

The team will then come back together for the 2020 NCAA Championships on March 25-28 in Indianapolis, Ind.

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