Dressel Throws Down 18.9 Anchor Split in Dual Meet vs. Auburn

FLORIDA VS. AUBURN

• Results
• Hosted by Florida
• Saturday, January 20th
• 25 Yards
• Dual Meet Format

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

• MEN: Florida 183, Auburn 114
• WOMEN: Auburn 160.5, Florida 139.5

The Auburn Tigers traveled to Gainesville on Saturday for a dual meet with SEC rival Florida. The teams split the meet, with the Florida men and Auburn women claiming wins. Standout sprinter Caeleb Dressel came up with multiple individual wins and a pair of strong relay performances for the Gators. He started things off with an 18.94 split on the 200 medley relay before going on to win the individual 50 free in 19.64. Dressel returned for the 100 fly shortly after, coming from behind to beat Auburn’s Santiago Grassi 47.16 to 47.50. At the end of the session, Dressel closed out his schedule with a 42.97 split on the 2nd leg of the winning 400 free relay.

Teammate Jan Switkowski also contributed 2 individual wins for Florida and joined Dressel on both winning relays with a 20.24 fly split on the medley relay and a 43.21 split on the free relay. Individually, he battled with teammate and fellow SEC medalist Khader Baqlah in the 200 free, using his front-end speed to take the edge and win it in 1:33.95 to Baqlah’s 1:34.60. Switkowski’s next win came in the 200 back, where he took it out in 50.82 to lead early on and held off a late charge from freshman teammate Michael Taylor (1:44.56) to win it in 1:44.10.

U.S. National Teamer Zach Apple was among the event winners for Auburn. Apple brought home a victory in the 100 free, touching in 43.50 to edge out fellow Auburn All-American Peter Holoda (43.84). Apple also placed 4th in the 200 free (1:38.28), while Holoda placed 2nd in the 50 free (20.19). They each swam both relays, with Holoda anchoring the 200 medley relay ‘A’ squad in 19.31 and Apple anchoring the ‘B’ team in 19.68. Apple and Holoda teamed up on the 400 free relay as Apple lead off in 44.17 and Holoda threw down a 43.39 on the 2nd leg.

Auburn’s Aly Tetzloff was the top contributor for the Tigers individually, recording 3 wins. She tied her personal best in the 100 back, winning by over a second in 53.14. Tetzloff returned for the 100 free, posting the only sub-50 time in 48.72 ahead of Florida’s Sherridon Dressel (50.68). In the 200 IM, Tetzloff battled with Florida’s Kelly Fertel. She took a nearly 3.5 second lead up front, holding off a hard-charging Fertel into the finish to win 1:59.12 to 1:59.50.

Teammate Carly Cummings also picked up multiple wins for the Tigers as she swept the breaststrokes. Cummings, a freshman, edged out Fertel 1:02.80 to 1:03.04 in the 100 breast. They had another close call in the 200 breast, as Cummings held off Fertel (2:15.88) down the final stretch to win it in 2:15.65. Cummings also placed 5th in the 200 IM (2:03.08) and put up a 28.41 breast split on the winning 200 medley relay. She was joined by Tetzloff, who led off with a 24.82 back split on that relay.

Freshman standout Taylor Ault led the charge for the Florida women with a distance sweep. Ault dominated the 1000 free, posting a 9:53.89 to win by over 5 seconds. Fellow Florida freshman Bettina Boszormenyi also broke 10:00 in 9:59.56, while Georgia Darwent secured the top 3 sweep with a 10:01.54 for 3rd place. Ault swam back-to-back races, touching in 1:49.86 for 4th in the 200 free. Auburn’s Erin Falconer controlled that race in 1:47.89. In the 500 free, Ault was the only swimmer to break 4:50, taking another win with her 4:48.05.

PRESS RELEASE – FLORIDA:

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Gators split their dual meet with Auburn in front of a sellout crowd on Senior Day. The no. 4 men topped the no. 13 Tigers 183-114, while the no. 16 Florida women fell to no. 12 Auburn.

The crowd of 1,005 was the first sellout the Gators have had since the renovations to Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

Florida’s men won seven straight events to begin the meet and took home a total of 12 victories out of a total of 16 events.

Jan Switkowski and Caeleb Dressel led the men with four wins apiece, including a sweep of the relays. Both were members of the 200 medley relay, which posted a time of 1:26.27, and the 400 free relay, which finished in first with a time of 2:53.87.

Switkowski notched individual wins in the 200 free and 200 back, recording B-cut times of 1:33.95 and 1:44.10, respectively. Dressel also recorded two B-cut times en route to his victories, swimming a 19.64 in the 50 free and a 47.16 in the 100 fly.

Ben Lawless swept the distance events for the men, swimming a 9:02.60 in the 1000 free and a 4:26.03 in the 500 free.

Maxime Rooney and Michael Taylor both recorded an individual win and a relay win for Florida. Taylor won the 200 medley relay and clinched the 100 back with a B-cut of 47.81. Rooney swam a B-cut time of 1:46.28 in the 200 fly for his individual victory and helped Florida finish the meet on a high note with a win in the 400 free relay.

Mark Szaranek recorded an individual win in the 200 IM on his Senior Day, recording a time of 1:46.75, good for a B-cut. Marco Guarente rounded out the individual wins for Florida’s men, swimming a B-cut of 54.30 in the 100 breast.

The women took home five victories, led by freshman Taylor Ault, who recorded wins in both the 500 free (4:48.05) and the 1000 free (9:53.89).

Sydney Sell won the 200 back with a B-cut time of 1:56.41 and Hannah Burns swam a 1:69.37 to clinch the victory in the 200 fly.

The final individual win on the women’s side came off the boards, with Brooke Madden recording a score of 312.23 to place first in the 1-meter event.

The men finished with 28 top-3 finishes and the women added 24 of their own.

The Gators travel to Knoxville, Tenn. to face the no. 7/12 Tennessee Volunteers on Friday for the final dual meet of the season. The meet is set to start at 1 p.m.

Swimming Towards Postseason:

• Switkowski (1:33.95), Khader Baqlah (1:34.60) and Grady Heath (1:37.43) all recorded B-cuts in the 200 free.
• Emma Ball notched a B-cut time of 54.29 in the 100 back.
• Michael Taylor recorded his own B-cut time in the 100 back, swimming a 47.81.
• In the 100 breast, Guarente swam a 54.30 for a B-cut qualification.
• Three Florida swimmers recorded B-cuts in the 200 fly – for the women: Burns (1:59.37) and for the men: Rooney (1:46.28) and M. Szaranek (1:46.35).
• C. Dressel’s time of 19.64 in the 50 free was good for a B-cut standard.
• Baqlah pitched in another NCAA B-cut time during the meet, swimming a 44.17 in the 100 free.
• Three Gators posted B-cuts in the 200 back – for the women: Sell (1:56.14) and for the men: Switkowski (1:44.10) and Taylor (1:44.56).
• Kelly Fertel (2:15.88) and Guarente (1:59.55) notched B-cuts in the 200 breast for the women’s and men’s teams.
• Dressel added another B-cut in the 100 fly with a time of 47.16.
• Rounding out the B-cuts are Fertel and M. Szaranek, who recorded times of 1:59.50 and 1:46.75, respectively in the 200 IM.

Diving Towards Postseason:

• Alex Farrow and Dalton Goss both notched Zone qualifications off the 3-meter board with scores of 353.03 and 321.23, respectively.
• Madden recorded Zone scores on both the 1-meter (312.23) and 3-meter (327.23) boards.
• Teya Syskakis posted a score of 295.28 off the 3-meter board and Emma Whitnernotched a mark of 267.90 in the 1-meter event to earn Zone qualifications.

Straight from the Source – Head Coach Gregg Troy:

• “We showed a lot of character today. We had a lot of good races against a good team. We are at a good spot, but we still have some glaring weaknesses we need to address. I am proud of the way they went about the races and we won a lot of close races and that is always good this time of year.”

Straight from the Source – Diving Coach Bryan Gillooly:

• “Very happy with the performances today. Over the last couple of weeks, we have changed our focus to postseason training and it showed today. We were sharper and had a lot of personal bests this meet. We are closer to where we want to be, which is right on schedule. We don’t want to be there yet, but we have a couple more weeks to tighten up a bit more. This just shows that our training is working and we look to get better from here.”

PRESS RELEASE – AUBURN:

Aly Tetzloff and Carly Cummings combined to win five individual events as the Auburn women’s swimming and diving teams won at Florida for the first time since 2006 on Saturday. The No. 12 Auburn women knocked off the No. 16 Florida women, 160.5-139.5, for back-to-back dual meet wins over the Gators for the first time in over a decade.

“The women had a strong meet,” Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said. “I felt like there were some standouts but there were also some role players that really helped us get the win today as well.”

Tetzloff, who has led Auburn in individual wins this season, picked up another three on Saturday, winning the 100 back (53.14), the 100 free (48.72) and the 200 IM (1:59.12), matching her career-best time in the 100 back.

“Aly has the mindset that she wants to win every race that she’s in,” Hawke said. “That’s a fantastic mindset to have and she’s a very confident girl right now.”

Just a freshman, Cummings has been on the cusp of winning multiple events numerous times this year and finally broke through on Saturday, sweeping the breaststroke events. She won the 100 in 1:02.80 and the 200 in 2:15.65.

“Carly is such a competitor and that’s why she was recruited,” associate head coach for women Lauren Hancock said. “In high school she was able to go back-to-back-to-back events at a high-level meet and compete in all those events. She will go head-to-head with people and she will do whatever it takes to get her hand on the wall first and she did that multiple times for us today.”

Erin Falconer earned her fourth B cut and second win of the season in the 200 free with a winning time of 1:47.89, which was a season-best and the second-fastest time by an Auburn swimmer this season in the event.

Ashton Ellzey earned her third win in the 50 free this season in a time of 22.61.

“We knew going in that our second, third and fourth girls were going to play a big factor in how we did overall and that was definitely true from the get-go,” Hancock said. “Girls that were in outside lanes really stepped up, for example Lauren Dunn in the 100 freestyle (fifth – 51.51) and the 100 breaststroke (fifth – 1:05.80). Brooke Malone got fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.54), Sarah Margaret (Cimino) got fifth in the 100 fly (57.66) and another freshman, Jewels Harris, swam incredible in both butterflys (200 – third – 2:00.91, 100 – second – 55.64).

“We knew we were strong at the top, and so was Florida, but ultimately it came down to the depth that we have and that is a testament to how strong this women’s team has become over the last two or three years,” Hancock said.

Alison Maillard earned a win on the 3-meter and scored a personal-best on the 1-meter in the diving well. Her score on the 1-meter (303.23) netted her a runner-up finish while her 3-meter score (329.03) gave her five wins on the board this season.

“Alison was real steady,” Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. “She gave up a little bit of DD to the Florida diver and it was real close on 1-meter. She was behind going into the last dive on 3-meter and the Florida diver missed her back twister and Alison did decent inward two-and-a-half to win, which was encouraging.”

Auburn’s women, which had defeated Florida, 197-103, last season at Auburn, last won back-to-back dual meets over the Gators in 2006 and 2007, which concluded an 11-meet stretch of Auburn wins over Florida.

The No. 12 Auburn men earned four individual wins on the day with Pete Turnham leading the way in the diving well and Zach Apple and Tommy Brewer each getting it done between the lane lines.

Turnham went 2-for-2 on the springboard, winning the 1-meter with a 352.20 and the 3-meter with a 376.28. Turnham also won the 3-meter in the team’s last dual meet (at Texas) and has now won the 1-meter three times this season.

“Pete was solid and had two solid scores,” Shaffer said. “The only thing we need to focus on is being a little cleaner on finishing dives. We have three weeks now prior to conference and it will give us an opportunity to do that. I like where we are.”

Apple claimed a second straight win in the 100 free, touching in 43.50, while Brewer won the 200 breast for the second straight meet, getting to the wall in 1:59.38.

No. 4 Florida earned the dual meet win, outscoring Auburn, 183-114.

“There were some good performances but at the end of the day we just got beat by a better team,” Hawke said. “We are going to come back in three weeks and face that team again and I guarantee we are going to be much better than we were today.”

SEC Network will broadcast Saturday’s meet on Sunday, Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. CT.

Auburn will have one final tune-up before the SEC Championships when it plays host to the Auburn Invitational, Feb. 2-4. Other teams expected to compete are Alabama, Florida and Florida State.