Gators Conclude Competition at Georgia Last Chance Meet

Saturday, February 26

Athens, Ga.

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Florida Gators

Georgia Last Chance Meet

Gators Conclude Competition at Georgia Last Chance Meet

Sunday, February 27, 2022 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Florida notched 63 qualifying times over the course of the two-day meet

By: Katie Callahan

Complete Results

ATHENS, Ga. – The Florida men's and women's swimming & diving programs concluded competition at the Georgia Last Chance Meet on Sunday.

The Gators registered three A-cut times and 60 B-cut qualifications across the two-day meet, just weeks prior to the NCAA Championships.

Saturday Prelims
Kicking off Saturday's prelims session was the 100 fly, where the Gators had six women competing. Aris Runnels swam her way into the A-Final with a time of 54.32, while Georgia Bates (54.49) and Amanda Ray (54.65) finished back-to-back in ninth/tenth place to each earn spots in the B-Final.

Celi Guzman (55.74), Kenady Beil (56.52) and Molly Golding (57.09) finished 17th, 21st and 22nd, respectively to round out the women competing in the event.

Over on the men's side, Isaac Davis finished sixth over in the 100 fly with a time of 47.57 to secure his spot in Saturday night's A-Final.

Moving to the women's 500 free, Anna Auld posted a B-cut time of 4:46.19 to finish third overall and move on to the event's A-Final that evening. In the men's 500 free, Ben Cote also finished third overall with a B-cut swim of 4:22.77 to secure his spot in the finals session.

Kathleen Golding led the way for the Gators in the 200 IM, finishing first with a B-cut swim of 1:57.71. Madison Kolessar followed that with a third-place finish time of 2:08.24.

Over in the men's 200 IM, Miguel Cancel finished second overall with a B-cut time of 1:45.34, while Peter Bretzmann touched the wall sixth with a time of 1:45.34 – both securing their spots in the A-Final.

The Gators had four women compete in the 50 free, led by a third-place finish by Ekaterina Nikonova. Her time of 22.43 was good for a B-cut in the event. Gabby Hillis finished sixth overall with a B-cut of 22.70, while Kirschtine Balbuena (23.03) and Georgia Bates (23.55) placed 11th and 17th in the event.

Over on the men's side, Will Davis clinched the top overall seed after registering a B-cut swim of 19.21. Chance Tirheimer and Isaac Davis placed fourth/fifth with B-cut times of 19.70 and 19.82, respectively. Bobby Finke touched the wall 11th with a time of 24.55, while Raphael Rached Windmuller (25.15) and Amro Al-Wir (26.93) finished 13th and 14th overall.

All three Gator women that competed in the 200 back prelim earned spots in the A-Final: Katie Minnich (B-cut, 1:55.87), Mary Kate Kelley (1:57.62) and Celi Guzman (1:59.74). On the men's side, Miguel Cancel touched the wall ninth overall with a time of 1:47.40 as the lone Gator competing in the event.

Molly Golding earned her spot in the B-Final of the women's 100 breaststroke after touching the wall 14th overall with a time of 1:05.22.

In the men's 100 breaststroke, Dillon Hillis led the way with a blistering A-cut time of 51.32 to secure the top seed. Julian Smith finished fifth overall with a B-cut time of 52.93, while Raphael Rached Windmuller placed 11th with a B-swim of 53.55 to round out the Gators in the event.

Ekaterina Nikonova earned the top seed in the women's 200 free with a B-cut time of 1:46.07, while Micayla Cronk finished fourth overall with a B-cut of her own (1:46.89).

In the men's 400 IM, Bobby Finke touched the wall third overall with a time of 3:47.68, good for a B-cut, while Amro Al-Wir rounded out the prelim session in the 200 breaststroke, finishing first with a B-cut time of 1:53.86.

Saturday Finals
Saturday evening's finals session began with the women's 100 fly with four Gators competing across the A and B Finals. Georgia Bates touched the wall fifth overall with a time of 54.21, followed by an eighth-place finish from Aris Runnels (54.81). Molly Golding and Kenady Beil finished 12th/13th with times of 56.85 and 56.87, respectively, to round out the women competing.

Over in the women's 500 free, Anna Auld finished second overall, posting a B-cut time of 4:45.49 to improve upon her B-cut from the prelims session.

Miguel Cancel touched the wall second overall in the 200 IM, registering a B-cut swim of 1:45.81, while Peter Bretzmann finished sixth with a time of 1:48.72.

In the women's 50 free A-Final, Gabby Hillis (22.70) and Kirschtine Balbuena (23.07) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, with Hillis notching the same B-cut time she recorded in the prelims.

Three Gator men competed in the A-Final of the 50 free, with Will Davis finishing first and improving upon his prelim B-cut time by .09 seconds (19.12). Isaac Davis posted a third-place finish with B-cut swim of 19.57, while Chance Tirheimer finished fifth overall with a B-cut time of his own (19.72).

The three Gators competing in the women's 200 backstroke finished fourth-sixth with Katie Minnich leading the way with a B-cut time of 1:56.94. Mary Kate Kelley finished fifth with a swim of 1:58.27, while Celi Guzman touched the wall sixth with a time of 1:58.55.

Over in the women's 100 breaststroke, Molly Golding finished 10th overall with a time of 1:05.03. On the men's side, Dillon Hillis once again registered an A-cut performance in the event, finishing first with a time of 51.55. Julian Smith touched the wall third with a B-cut swim of 52.49, while Raphael Rached Windmuller rounded out the Gators competing with a time of 54.20 – good for 13th overall and a B-cut time.

The women's 200 free saw two Gators in the Top-3 finishers, with Ekaterina Nikonova posting a swim of 1:44.83, good for a B-cut, while Micayla Cronk finished third overall with a B-cut swim of 1:45.57.

In event 218 – 100 breaststroke – Raphael Rached Windmuller bettered his previous 100 breast final finish, placing third overall with a B-cut time of 53.05 – over a second better than his earlier swim.

Kathleen Golding touched the wall first in the 400 IM (Event 227), registering a B-cut time of 4:09.36. That swim was followed by a fourth-place finish from Madison Kolessar (4:17.67). In the men's 400 IM final (Event 228), Ben Cote finished first with a B-cut time of 3:47.93.

Gabby Hillis clinched the top spot in the 100 free (Event 229) with a B-cut time of 49.38, while Amanda Ray grabbed a first-place finish of her own in the 200 fly (Event 231), notching a B-cut time of 1:54.83.

Sunday Prelims
Florida kicked off Sunday's prelims session in the 400 IM, where Anna Auld posted a fourth-place finish with a time of 4:19.44.

Miguel Cancel and Peter Bretzmann finished 1-2 in the men's 400 IM prelim, finishing with B-cut times of 3:45.90 and 3:49.11, respectively.

The Gators had five women competing in the 100 free, with Ekaterina Nikonova (48.81), Micayla Cronk (49.40) and Gabby Hillis (49.50) finishing in the top-3 spots with B-cut qualifications. Kirschtine Balbuena finished seventh overall with a time of 50.62, while Georgia Bates placed 14th with a time of 51.19.

The three Gator men competing in the 100 free each earned a spot in the A-Final, with Will Davis leading the way with a B-cut swim of 42.87. Chance Tirheimer finished fifth overall with a time of 43.22, while Isaac Davis placed seventh with a time of 43.50 – each good for a B-cut.

In the women's 200 fly, Kathleen Golding (2:01.30) and Kenady Beil (2:03.36) finished sixth and 10th, respectively.

The Gators had five men compete in the 200 breaststroke, with Florida claiming the top 3 spots – Dillon Hillis (First – B-cut, 1:52.88), Amro Al-Wir (Second – B-cut,1:54.53) and Raphael Rached Windmuller (Third – B-cut, 1:55.66). Peter Bretzmann finished fifth overall with a time of 1:59.00, while Julian Smith rounded out the field with a swim of 2:12.39 to place 11th.

The women had five compete in the 100 back, with Katie Minnich leading the way in second-place with a B-cut time of 53.21. Aris Runnels touched the wall fourth with a B-cut swim of 53.79, followed by a fifth-place swim of 54.02 from Celi Guzman. Kirschtine Balbuena (55.13) and Mary Kate Kelley (55.23) finished 8-9 in the event.

In the women's 1650 free, Anna Auld touched the wall second with a B-cut time 16:14.76, followed by Madison Kolessar in fourth with a swim of 16:51.36. Over in the men's 1650 free, Ben Cote placed fourth overall with a B-cut time of 15:13.49.

Georgia Bates led the way in the 50 free (Event 309) for Florida, finishing third with a B-cut swim of 23.49. On the men's side of the 50 free (Event 310) Isaac Davis posted a B-cut time of 19.69.

In the women's 200 free (Event 319), Kathleen Golding touched the wall first with a B-cut swim of 1:47.74 and rounding out the prelims session for Florida was Molly Golding, who swam a time of 2:20.26 in the 200 breaststroke (Event 333).

Sunday Finals
To kick off Sunday evening's finals session, Anna Auld posted a second-place finish in the 400 IM with a B-cut swim of 4:14.28, over five seconds faster than her prelim time. Over in the men's 400 IM, Miguel Cancel (3:45.63) and Peter Bretzmann (3:46.90) went 1-2 in the event, each posting B-cut swims.

Of the five women Florida had compete in the 100 free finals, three of them swept the top spots in the event with B-cut times – Ekaterina Nikonova (First – 48.28), Micayla Cronk (Second – 49.23) and Gabby Hillis (Third – 49.39). Kirschtine Balbuena touched the wall fifth with a time of 50.66, while Georgia Bates placed 11th overall with a swim of 51.14.

The Gators had three men competing in the A-Final of the 100 free, with Will Davis clinching the top spot with a B-cut time of 42.62. Following closely behind in third place was Chance Tirheimer, who notched a B-cut swim of 43.36. Isaac Davis rounded out the Gators in the event, placing seventh with a swim of 1:18.27.

The Florida men clinched the top four places in the A-Final of the 200 breast, with Dillon Hillis posting his third A-cut of the weekend with a 1:52.43. Amro Al-Wir followed in second place with a B-cut swim of 1:53.64, while Raphael Rached Windmuller (1:55.91) and Peter Bretzmann (1:57.87) finished third and fourth, respectively, with B-cuts of their own. Rounding out the Gators in the event was Julian Smith, who placed ninth overall with a time of 2:17.25.

Closing out the evening for Florida was the women's 100 back, where the Gators had four swimmers in the A-Final. Katie Minnich touched the wall second overall with at B-cut time of 53.65, while Aris Runnels finished third with a swim of 54.25. Celi Guzman (54.74) and Kirschtine Balbuena (54.81) placed fifth and sixth to close out competition for the Gators.

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