Nine Qualify for Last Finals Session of 2020 SEC Championships

Rosie Zavaros set a new personal-best in the 200 back on Saturday morning to advance to the evening B-final.

Nine Qualify for Last Finals Session of 2020 SEC Championships

Saturday, February 22, 2020 | Women's Swimming & Diving

By: Ryan Sosic

AUBURN, Ala. – The University of Florida women's swimming and diving team sent seven into the last finals sessions at the 2020 Southeastern Conference Championships on Friday morning at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.

Sherridon Dressel and Vanessa Pearl led the way with their A-final qualifications in their respective events.

Dressel posted her third personal-best of the week, advancing to the A-final in the 200 back with a prelim time of 1:52.57 (fifth-fastest)

Her new best is .81 faster than her previous swim set at last year's SEC's competition and remains as the seventh-fastest time in program history.

Pearl hit a new season-best in the 200 breast to advance to her third A-final of the week. Her time of 2:08.60 was the fifth-fastest overall and cut-off almost two full seconds from her season-best set at Tennessee.

Elizabeth Perez and Emma Whitner both advanced to the finals of the platform dive with new career-best scores.

Perez tallied the top prelim score of 270.60, while Whitner finished in seventh with an overall score of 250.60.

Rosie Zavaros and Georgia Darwent joined Dressel in setting 200 back personal-bests. Zavaros would qualify for the B-final with her swim of 1:54.83, good for 12^th- overall. She set her previous-best this year in Florida's dual at Missouri.

Darwent will swim in tonight's C-final with a time of 1:55.82, .45 seconds faster than her swim at the 2017 SEC Championships.

A duo of Gator sprinters advanced to the B-final of the 100 free with new lifetime-bests.

Bella Garofalo's swim of 48.65 notched a new lifetime-best by .44 seconds to tie the ninth-fastest time in school history. She will head into the B-final as the top seed.

Coming into the B-final with the 15th-fastest time was Gabby Hillis. Her effort of 49.05 is a new personal-best, .16 seconds faster than her previous-best.

Talia Bates is Florida's fourth qualifier in a 100 free as freshman will appear in the C-final after registering the 20^th-fastest time (49.24).

The final two Gators in the event was Tori Bindi and Emma Ball.

Bindi would set another personal-best this week at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center with her swim of 49.73, while Ball registered a 40^th-place finish with a time of 50.15.

Ashley McCool missed her third finals appearance this week by less than two points, finishing in ninth with 246.15 points, her best as a Gator.

Brooke Madden also competed in the final diving event of the championships, finishing in 15th-place with a score of 230.25.

Standings

1. Tennessee-817
2. Florida- 720.5
3. Texas A7M- 713
4. Kentucky- 701.5
5. Georgia- 692
6. Auburn- 560
7. Alabama- 526
8. Missouri- 363
9. South Carolina- 352
10. LSU- 318
11. Arkansas- 299
12. Vanderbilt- 120

Schedule

Day (Preliminary time/Final time)	Event
Saturday (10:30 a.m./6:30 p.m.)	1,650 Free
	200 Back
	100 Free
	200 Breast
	Women's Platform
	400 Free Relay (finals only)

What's Next

Florida will look to claim this year's conference title on Saturday night.

The 1,650 free finals will begin with some heats taking place during the afternoon, with the remainder being swam as the opening event of the finals.

The remainder of the slate includes the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, women's platform and 400 free relay.

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