FLORIDA VS. GEORGIA
- Results
- Hosted by University of Georgia
- Friday, October 28th
- 25 yards
- Dual meet format
FINAL TEAM SCORES
- Men: Georgia 167, Florida 116
- Women: Georgia 164 Florida 110
Florida-Georgia rivalry weekend got started with a swimming dual meet on Friday, as the Gators traveled to Athens for both teams’ first SEC meet of the season. Both Georgia teams were able to lock down wins over the Gators, with the women extending their home meet win streak to over 100 straight wins.
UGA Olympians Jay Litherland and Chase Kalisz each picked up a pair of wins to help the Bulldogs to victory. Litherland first won the 200 free with his 1:36.27 ahead of teammate Gunnar Bentz (1:37.14), another Rio Olympian. He then went on to win the 200 back ahead of UGA freshman standout Javier Acevedo, posting a 1:45.43 ahead of Acevedo’s 1:45.66.
Kalisz, on the other hand, swept the breaststroke events for his team. His winning time of 53.86 in the 100 breast put him nearly 2 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. He was even more dominant in the 200 breast, winning by over 10 seconds with his 1:54.62.
Florida’s Caeleb Dressel returned to action for the Gators after missing the tri-meet last weekend, rocketing to a 19.55 victory in today’s 50 free. He also swam the 100 fly and 100 back, placing 2nd and 3rd in those events respectively.
He wasn’t the only sprint star to make their season debut at this meet – Georgia’s Olivia Smoliga, the defending NCAA Champion in the 50 free, made her season debut with a win in the 100 back (54.22) and a 3rd-place finish in the 100 free (50.96). Smoliga missed Georgia’s first meet of the season against North Carolina, and like Dressel is coming off of an Olympic appearance in Rio.
Also on the women’s side, UGA’s Meaghan Raab pulled off a successful triple for the Bulldogs. Raab seemed to be in a league of her own in all 3 of her races today, first winning the 200 free by 2 seconds with her 1:46.23. She then went on to post a 3 second victory with her 2:14.27 in the 200 breast, and clocked the only sub-2:00 time to win the 200 IM in 1:58.29.
Florida’s Press release will be added when it becomes available.
PRESS RELEASE – GEORGIA:
ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia swimming and diving teams won their first home meet of the season against Florida on Friday in Gabrielsen Natatorium.
The Bulldogs recorded a 178-122 victory, while the Lady Bulldogs kept their home win-streak alive with a 164-125 victory. This marks 101 consecutive home victories for the Lady Bulldogs.
“I was really excited,” said Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle. “Florida has a really formidable team, but we were pretty good today. That’s about as proud of a team I’ve been in a while.”
The Bulldogs swept the 200 freestyle as Jay Litherland hit the wall first in 1:36.27. Gunnar Bentz was second with a time of 1:37.14 and freshman Walker Higgins placed third with a time of 1:37.51.
Jay Literland also finished first in the 200 backstroke, clocking in at 1:45.43. Other double winners on the day included Chase Kalisz and Pace Clark. Kalisz swept the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races in 53.86 and 1:54.62, while Clark took both the 100 and 200 butterfly events in 47.63 and 1:44.52.
“I loved being able to help lead this team to our first home win,” said Clark. “Its good to get the season rolling, we have a lot of talent and I’m looking forward to seeing what we will be able to do this season.”
Javier Acevedo finished first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 47.35 and Kevin Litherland stopped the clock first in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:10.88. Higgins took the 500 freestyle in 4:24.98.
The 200-yard medley relay of Taylor Dale, Kalisz, Clark and Acevedo tied with Florida in 1:27.97, while Bentz, Dale, Acevedo and Clark hit the wall first in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 2:57.21.
Megan Raab touched first on three separate occasions for the Lady Bulldogs as she took the 200 freestyle (1:46.23), the 200 breastroke (2:14.27) and the 200 Individual Medley (1:58.29).
“I’m finally back to the training I have been missing for a couple weeks,” said Raab. “It feels really good to be back in the groove again.”
Chantal Van Landeghem won the 50 and the 100 freestyle, finishing in 22.67 and 49.56. Stephanie Peters stopped the clock first in the 500 and 1000 freestyle races, touching in 4:48.83 and 9:52.96, while Megan Kingsley swept the butterfly races, finishing with a time of 53.08 in the 100 and 1:54.97 in the 200.
Olivia Smoliga claimed the 100 backstroke with a 54.22 and Meryn McCann took the 200 backstroke in 1:55.57. Freshman McKensi Austin won the 1-meter and 3-meter diving, posting final scores of 274.50 and 320.10, respectively.
Smoliga, Emily Cameron, Kingsley and Van Landeghem won the 200-yard medley in 1:39.81, while the 400-yard freestyle of Raab, Smoliga, Kylie Stewart and Van Landeghem finished first in 3:21.21.
Georgia will head to The McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta on Wednesday to take on Georgia Tech at 4 p.m.
PRESS RELEASE – FLORIDA:
ATHENS, Ga. – In Florida’s third meet in as many weeks, the No. 7 Georgia men defeated No. 8 Florida 178-122, while the 2016 national champion and No. 8 Georgia women defeated No. 18 Florida 164-125 Friday inside the Gabrielsen Natatorium.
Georgia’s women now own a home win streak of 101 straight meets.
Sophomore Samuel Smith went on a tear in the diving well, winning the 1-meter at 336.68 and the 3-meter at 377.03 and crushing the respective 300- and 320-point NCAA standards for those events. His 1-meter score was his second-highest of the season, while his 3-meter score is his year’s best by almost 27 points.
Teya Syskakis, with a third-place finish in the 3-meter, also passed the NCAA standard with a score of 284.40.
Caeleb Dressel and Jan Switkowski added to the men’s wins. Dressel took the 50 free in 19.56, while Switkowski touched first in the 200 IM at 1:47.20. Their times both stand as NCAA Division I’s third-fastest in those respective events at this point in the season.
Due to an early timing issue in which the finish was deemed too close to call, Florida’s A-team of Dressel, Stanley Wu, Switkowski and Mark Szaranek tied with Georgia’s C-team of Taylor Dale, Chase Kalisz, Pace Clark and Javier Acevedo in the 200 medley relay, both timing out at 1:27.97.
In addition, Maxime Rooney (1:37.55 in the 200 free), Dressel (48.49 in the 100 back, 19.56 in the 50 free and 47.65 in the 100 fly) and Switkowski (1:45.63 in the 200 fly and 1:47.20 in the 200 IM) achieved NCAA B-standard times.
On the women’s side, Savanna Faulconer added another dual-meet title to her resume, winning the 100 breast in 1:04.63.
Next, the Florida women will travel to Arkansas Thursday, Nov. 3 and will meet up later with the men’s team on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Texas A&M.
TROY’S TAKE ON SWIMMING
“We’re not excited about the score, but on the men’s side, all the races were close. We swam well, not as well as what we need to. There were some real bright spots. Some of the distance freestylers raced well. We were a little bit better than last week in most places. Jan Switkowski‘s starting to look really good again. Overall, we’ve got some things to work on still, but we’re moving in the right direction.
“On the women’s side, they were dramatically better than last week. It’s just a really, really good Georgia team. Hats off to them – they were well-prepared and swam really well. Sherridon Dressel is starting to show some real signs of life. The girls’ distance freestylers raced well. Savanna Faulconer was good again. For the most part, we saw improvement from last week. We still have a lot of things to work on.”
GILLOOLY’S TAKE ON DIVING
“The team continues to progress with each meet. Our goal coming in was to ‘compete’ better, and that’s what we were able to do. The divers were really challenging themselves to add points to the team score. We were just a few individual dives away from being really good. Samuel Smith is finally injury-free and was able to get back on track and lead the way. We look forward to seeing this very good Bulldog team again at SECs.”
FLORIDA’S WINS
Men’s Events
1-meter – Samuel Smith (336.68)
3-meter – Samuel Smith (377.03)
50 free – Caeleb Dressel (19.56)
200 IM – Jan Switkowski (1:47.20)
200 medley relay (tied w/ Georgia) – A-team (Caeleb Dressel, Stanley Wu, Jan Switkowski, Mark Szaranek) [1:27.97]
Women’s Events
*1-meter – Teya Syskakis (260.85)
100 breast – Savanna Faulconer (1:04.63)
*100 fly – Alyssa Yambor-Maul (56.06)
*200 IM – Savanna Faulconer (2:03.45)
*400 free relay – A-team (Sherridon Dressel, Kelsey Dambacher, Bella Garofalo, Amelia Maughan) [3:25.22]
*All of Georgia’s times/scores counted as exhibition times/scores
AB
Swimnerd=the next bobo gigi
So bottom line, can UGA beat Florida at SECs or NCAA’s? You would think so after seeing these results.
Kalisz & Dressel — two chronic underachievers, eh?
Best in-season swimmer of all time? Can contribute in so many events
Who are you referring to?
Chase Kalisz
Hey downvoters, he could have easily been talking about Dressel…
Dressel can help in a variety as well. I mean if you think about it Kalisz can go 100,200,500, 1000/mile, 100,200 breast 200 back 200 fly 200/400 IM and probably compete with some of the best in all of those (100 he can go 44)
Kalisz in 100 free? You’re joking right
And dressel is competitive in the 50s of every stroke for relay purposes, the 100s of every stroke, 200 free and 200 IM. I count 10 events each (sorry chase doesn’t get the 100 free lol)
You’re misunderstanding my point and that’s fine you’ve made your mind up on Dressel, I’ve seen Dressel loose in back and fly this week against UGA. His freestyle is better yes this is true but his backstroke cannot compete with elite in an actual race as we witnessed in Athens. What I am saying is there are other people on most rosters that can contribute for the sprint relays. Chase has beaten most of the elite 200 flyers in the country in season and that may be his 4th best event. It depends what you’re looking for and your definition of versatile. In individual races Dressel can help in 7 but can he actually do the 200 free 100 back… Read more »
*on top
Ooookay…I don’t have a strong opinion either way, I was just making a couple of casual observations…
Also, Dwyer was probably good for an 18 high relay split in college, that’s quite a bit more valuable than a 44. I’m sorry you’re so defensive but a 44 mid 100 free is simply not that great for a NCAA D1 swimmer on a top 10 team. Which is fine, because it’s probably his 14th best event…
It’s not a big deal, and in season 44 is valuable no matter what you say. Plenty of teams at ncaas that get all American honorable mention have a 43 on one leg. So 1 second difference from in season to championship isn’t valuable? Yeah you’re right. It’s not so much defensive, it’s more along the lines that I’m right in my assessment so you say “defensive” to seem like you’re the winner in this scenario. It’s fine a lot of people do it it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Dwyer was 18 high at sec’s off relay that’s a fact and I’m saying he could probably go 19 high 20 low in season if required from a flat start.… Read more »
You’re a crazy person
????????
Unfortunately he doesn’t contribute the same in March. At his last NCAA’s, he scored very few points individually and practically none on relays. Wonder why?
Maybe because he isn’t a sprinter? He had an off meet at NCAAs two years ago. The year before that he broke the AR in the 400 IM. It’s not like he’s a big meet choker, he has Olympic and world championship silver medals to his name. I’d expect him to win the 400 IM again this year and probably end up top 5 in the 2IM and 2 breast. That’s about 50 NCAA points minimum, and he’ll probably be on UGAs 800 FR and 400 medley as well
Well he was on the 8fr relay at NCAA before and he split 1:37… Definitely not a team player! And yes I swam for UGA.
Perhaps he was tired from going 3:34 in the 4IM earlier in the session?
and Bentz and Litherland didn’t swim the 4im either???? not a team player
As I already said, he clearly had an off meet in 2015. At the 2014 NCAA championships Chase split a 1:33.8 and was the fastest on the team sooo
Second fastest, forgot Koski was in there too. Still 1:33 is nothing to sneeze at
There is a big different than an OFF meet and not caring.
I don’t care how ‘OFF’ he was… 1:37 is just flat slow! You’re telling me a guy who went under 3:40 in 400 IM couldn’t go faster than 1:37? That’s just a complete bias!