Florida Gators

AUBURN, Ala. – First-year Gators Jonny Marshall and Bella Sims scratched their names in multiple history books on Friday, earning a combined four gold medals and slashing six records on day five of the 2024 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships inside the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.
 
Both teams remain on top, with the men keeping a sturdy lead with 1198.5 points, while the women's 1051.5 points give them a 214.5 advantage over second.
 
Sims shattered both of her 200 butterfly and 100 backstroke times en route to two school records and two SEC records. The Nevada native finished nearly two seconds ahead of silver in 1:51.45 to break Florida's 15-year record that was set by Jemma Lowe (1:52.53) as well as the SEC and SEC Meet record set in 2022 by Kentucky's Riley Gaines (1:51.51). Leading off the women's 400-medley relay A team, Sims set her second school record of the night after she zoomed to a 50.07 split to take back the top spot in the 100 backstroke after her teammate Isabel Ivey had claimed No. 1 in the event with her 50.40 just an hour prior.
 
After Marshall went 44.36 for a new personal best in the 100 back to sit in second behind current Gator Adam Chaney in Florida's top-10, the freshman zoomed to a 44.12 to claim top spot in program history and on the podium. Marshall's time marks the fastest freshman time ever in the event. He also swam as the lead off in the 400-medley relay A team for the first time all season and finished with a 45.13 split to help the Gators claim first and end two-for-two in gold medals on the night.

Sims' 1:52.45 marked the program's 30th women's SEC 200 fly title and was the first time since 2015 a Gator took home gold in the event. Three other Gators advanced to the A finals, as sophomore Zoe Dixon finished in fourth place with 1:54.99 to sit at seventh best of all-time. Lainey Kruger improved her prelim time of 1:56.76 to go 1:56.09 for seventh place.
 
Isabel Ivey became the first Gator since 2010 to take home gold in the women's 100 back. The Gainesville native posted a 50.40 to claim Florida's 13th women's title and gain control of the school record before Sims' split. Aris Runnels sits seventh best in the record books after improving her morning time to a 51.71 for fifth. Carly Meeting swam her best 100 time after going 52.50 in the prelims, where she would finish seventh in the A final with a 52.54 time.

Marshall's 44.12 gave Florida's its third consecutive and 19th overall gold in the event, as Adam Chaney had gone back-to-back in the 100 back. Chaney claimed silver after clocking a 44.87. Scotty Buff shredded 0.82 seconds off his prelim time to go 45.29, which was good for fifth best in Florida's top 10.

Molly Mayne was the only Gator in the women's 100 breaststroke A final and placed eighth with a time of 59.83. Olivia Peoples went 1:00.99 in the B final after she swam a 1:00.29 in prelims to record the ninth-best time in program history.

Having broken Auburn's 100 breaststroke record with a 51.05 in the prelims, Aleksas Savickas swam an even faster time of 51.01 to reset his previous time on the way to the podium for his gold medal. The sophomores time marks third best in Florida's record book, ahead of Julian Smith's new personal best finish of 51.26, which sit fourth-best of all-time.

The 400-medley relay A Team of Bella Sims, Molly Mayne, Olivia Peoples and Isabel Ivey closed out the finals event with a new school record time of 3:25.16 to improve their entry time by 3.52 second to earn silver.

Having won the 400-medley relay three years in a row, the men's A Relay Team of Jonny Marshall, Aleksas Savickas, Joshua Liendo and Macguire McDuff cruised to a 3:00.49 to give Florida its fourth-consecutive title to become the first program to win more than three-consecutive golds was Auburn from 2006-2010.

Diving
Having his own successful first year, diver Conor Gesing earned a spot in the Men's A Platform Finals after placing fifth with a score 3:37.15. Gesing, whose won gold in the 3-meter and bronze in the 1-meter, remained in fifth place overall out of 25 divers after scoring 321.90.
    
In the B Finals, Skip Donald improved his third-round dive to better his prelims score of 316.00 score to 329.00. The fifth year finished fourth in the consolation final, 12th overall.

Up Next
Your 2024 Men's and Women's SEC Swimming and Diving Champions will be crowned tomorrow as Saturday marks the final day/ At 10:30 a.m. the 200 back, 100 free and the 200 breast preliminaries go underway. At 12:30 p.m. ET, the women's diving squad head up the tower for platform prelims, followed by the B Final. The 1650 free heats will go underway at 3:30 p.m. Championship Finals begin at 6:30 p.m., with the 400 free relay being the closer. All prelims and finals sessions can be viewed live on SEC Network or live results can be found on Meet Mobile and Dive Meet.

Hear from the Winning Gators
 
Bella Sims, Florida, Women's 200 Butterfly
"200 fly is a hard event, but it is definitely my favorite event. I was just focused on staying relaxed. Fly is one of those strokes where if you try too hard, you're not going to go anywhere. I was just trying to stay relaxed and focus on my underwater kick count."
 
Isabel Ivey, Women's 100 Backstroke
"That race was just fun. I don't really swim the 100 backstroke, so to go out with best time meant a lot. To score points points for the Gators is always great."
 
Jonny Marshall, Men's 100 Backstroke
"I thought it was a great race. I went fast this morning. Knew that it was going to take a good time for me tonight, but I was confident coming in. It was just a great race and a great time."
 
Aleksas Savickas, Men's 100 Breaststroke
"It was a tough race. The field was great. We were all right next to each other. I executed the race how I wanted to. That top end speed is going to shine through a little bit."
 
Jonny Marshall, Men's 400 Medley Relay
"This is my first time ever being on a big "A" relay like this. I felt really inspired by my upperclassmen and my other teammates to go fast and bring home the gold for the Blue & Orange."
 
Gator Medal Count

• Gold – 19
• Silver – 10
• Bronze – 4

Current Team Scores
Men

1.	Florida	1,198.5
2.	Auburn	837
3.	Tennessee	822
4.	Georgia	791
5.	Texas A&M	757.5
6.	LSU	431
7.	Missouri	415
8.	Alabama	366
9.	South Carolina	324
10.	Kentucky	319

 
Women

1.	Florida	1,051.5
2.	Tennessee	837
3.	Texas A&M	498
4.	Auburn	625.5
5.	Georgia	617
6.	Alabama	473
7.	South Carolina	499
8.	LSU	392
9.	Kentucky	307
10.	Missouri	281.5
11.	Arkansas	260
12.	Vanderbilt	162

 
Day Five Complete Results
Results from Friday's prelims and finals as well as Saturday's schedule can be found below.

Friday, Feb. 23 9:30 a.m. Prelims
Women's 200 Butterfly	Bella Sims – 1:52.93 (-1.12 seed time) Zoe Dixon – 1:55.82 (-0.51 seed time) Lainy Kruger – 1:56.76 (+1.35 seed time) Amanda Ray – 1:57.38 (+1.08 seed time)
Men's 200 Butterfly	Mason Laur – 1:42.15 (-1.38 seed time) Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero – (-3.03 seed time) Billy Jones – 1:44.28 (-0.89 seed time)
Women's 100 Backstroke	Isabel Ivey –  51.27 (+0.09 seed time) Aris Runnels – 52.10 (-0.35 seed time) Carly Meeting – 52.51 (-0.45 seed time) Catie Choate – 52.96 (+0.51 seed time)
Men's 100 Backstroke	Jonny Marshall – 44.36 (-1.21 seed time) Adam Chaney – 45.21 (-0.06 seed time) Scotty Buff – 46.11 (-0.94 seed time)
Women's 100 Breaststroke	Molly Mayne – 59.31 (+0.63 seed time) Olivia Peoples – 1:00.26 (-0.39 seed time) Grace Rainey – 1:01.09 (+0.31 seed time)
Men's 100 Breaststroke	Aleksas Savickas – 51.05 (-1.42 seed time) Julian Smith – 52.00 (-0.15 seed time) Peter Bretzmann – (-0.39 seed time)
Men's Platform Prelims / 11:30 a.m.	Conor Gesing Round 1 – 61.10 Round 2 – 64.50 / 125.60 Round 3 – 55.80 / 181.40 Round 4 – 54.25 / 235.65 Round 5 – 63.80 / 299.45 Round 6 – 37.70 / 337.15 | 5th place Skip Donald Round 1 – 58.50 Round 2 – 50.40/ 108.90 Round 3 – 31.50 / 140.40 Round 4 – 54.00 / 194.40 Round 5 – 68.80 / 263.20 Round 6 - 52.80 / 316.00 | 10th Place
Men's Platform B Final / 1:40 p.m.	Skip Donald – Fourth Place Round 1 – 48.00 Round 2 – 57.60/ 105.60 Round 3 – 57.00 / 162.60 Round 4 – 48.00 / 210.60 Round 5 – 52.80 / 263.20 Round 6 -  65.60 / 329.00
5:30 p.m. Finals
Women's 200 Butterfly	Championship Final 1. Bella Sims - 1:51.45 4. Zoe Dixon – 1:54.99 7. Lainy Kruger – 1:56.09   B Final 5. Amanda Ray – 1:57.07
Men's 200 Butterfly	Championship Final   4. Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero – 1:41.33 6. Mason Laur – 1:42.32 B Final 7. Billy Jones – 1:44.63
Women's 100 Backstroke	Championship Final 1. Izzy Ivey – 50.40 5. Aris Runnels – 51.71 7. Carly Meeting – 52.54 B Final   10. Catie Choate – 52.13
Men's 100 Backstroke	Championship Final 1. Jonny Marshall – 44.12 2. Adam Chaney – 44.87 B Final   2. Scotty Buff – 45.29
Women's 100 Breaststroke	Championship Final 8. Molly Mayne – 59.83 B Final 8. Olivia Peoples – 1:00.99 C Final   3. Grace Rainey – 1:01.01
Men's 100 Breaststroke	Championship Final 1. Aleksas Savickas – 51.01 T2. Julian Smith – 51.26  C Final Peter Bretzmann – 53.81
Men's Platform A Final	Conor Gesing – 7th place Round 1 – 59.80 Round 2 – 32.50/ 92.30 Round 3 – 63.00 / 155.30  Round 4 – 46.20 / 246.60 Round 5 – 67.20 / 313.80 Round 6 – 56.55 / 321.90
Women's 400 Medley Relay	A Relay Team – Silver – 3:24.92 B. Sims (50.07), M. Mayne (58.88), O. Peoples (50.12) I. Ivey (46.– 3:25.16
Men's 400 Medley Relay	A Relay Team – Gold – 3:00.49 J. Marshall (45.13), A.Savickas(51.17), J. Liendo (42.77), M. McDuff (41.42)

 
Championship Schedule (CT)

Saturday, Feb. 24 9:30 a.m. Prelims
Women's 200 Backstroke
Men's 200 Backstroke
Women's 100 Freestyle
Men's 100 Freestyle
Women's 200 Breaststroke
Men's 200 Breaststroke
Women's Platform Prelims / 11:30 a.m.
Women's Platform B Final / 1:40 p.m.
Women's 1650 Heats / 2:30 p.m.
Men's 1650 Heats
5:30 p.m. Finals
Women's 1650 Freestyle
Men's 1650 Freestyle
Women's 200 Backstroke
Men's 200 Backstroke
Women's 100 Freestyle
Men's 100 Freestyle
Women's 200 Breaststroke
Men's 200 Breaststroke
Women's Platform A Final
Women's 400 Free Relay	A Relay Team
Men's 400 Free Relay	A Relay Team

 
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators