Both the Florida Gator men’s and women’s teams are up big after day two of the Georgia Tech Invitational. The Gators won all but two events in the evening session.
Chelsea Britt of Florida State won the women’s 100 fly by a big margin. Britt took home the 100 fly with a 52.39, beating Florida’s Natalie Hinds. Hinds finished in 53.06.
Britt got out front early in the race, taking the race out with a 24.22 compared to Hinds’ 24.75. Britt retained the lead with a 28.17 split on the second 50, again, better than Hinds’ 28.31.
Miami’s My Fridell of Miami was third with a 54.14.
Nikki Daniels of Arkansas won the 100 breaststroke for the Razorbacks, taking the title in 59.89, slower than her prelim time, but still good enough to be the only swimmer under 1:00, and under 1:01.
Florida State’s Sami Pochowski was second in 1:01.53, followed by Indian River State College’s Christina Loh. Julia Branch of Arkansas was fourth with a 1:02.12.
Florida did not have a swimmer in the A final of the 100 breaststroke. Lindsey McKnight finished 11th for the Gators with a 1:01.33, which would have been second in the A final.
The full results are available here.
Team scoring through day two:
Men’s:
- Florida: 1225
- Georgia Tech: 666
- Florida State: 586
- Indian River: 408
- FAU: 258
- South Carolina: 84
- Auburn: 76
- Utah: 49
- College of Charleston: 4
Women’s:
- Florida: 878
- Arkansas: 576.5
- Florida State 491.5
- FGCU: 399
- Vanderbilt: 299
- Miami: 260
- FAU: 252
- Georgia Tech: 245.5
- Bowling Green: 209
- Colorado State: 201.5
- Indian River: 155
- South Carolina: 119
- Campbell: 90
- Auburn: 51
- Clemson: 23
- Utah: 16
Aside from those two events, the rest of the session went Florida’s way.
Women’s 200 medley relay finals:
Florida’s A relay was dangerously close to being upset by Florida State’s. As it so often does, the relay came down to the freestyle leg. Florida State’s Britt split a 23.62 on the butterfly leg to give the Seminoles a lead of 1:16.64 to the 1:16.84.
However, Hinds split a 21.44 for the Gators compared to Kaitlyn Dressel’s 22.16 to give Florida a 1:38.28 to 1:38.36 victory in the relay.
FGCU’s A relay was third with a 1:39.26.
Men’s 200 medley relay finals:
The men’s half of the relay was not much of a race. Corey Main, Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez, Christian Homer, and Caleb Dressel won for the Gators with a 1:26.03.
Dressel split a blistering 18.94 on the relay.
Georgia Tech finished second with a 1:27.70 from Brad Oberg, Ricky Lehner, Ben Southern and Andrew Kosic. Florida State took third with a 1:28.60 from Kevin Rogers, Jason Coombs, Connor Knight, and Jake McCormick.
Women’s 400 IM finals:
Jessica Thielmann dropped over ten seconds from her prelim time to take the victory, beating number one seed Chelsea Tatlow.
Thielmann swam a 4:09.64 while Tatlow touched at 4:13.86. The difference came on the breaststroke, where Thielmann out split Tatlow, who was ahead at the halfway point, 1:11.68 to 1:15.13.
Jordan Smith finished third for the Gators with a 4:15.66.
Men’s 400 IM finals:
Florida’s Dan Wallace kept the gator momentum rolling with a 3:44.12 performance in the men’s 400 IM. His Gator Teammates Eduardo Gomez-Solaeche (3:46.90), Carlos Omana (3:49.18), Mark Szaranek (3:49.77), and Ryan Rosenbaum (3:53.31), rounded out an all gator top five.
Men’s 100 fly finals:
Dressel 46.60 in the 100 fly for the Gators. Not far behind was Andrew Kosic of Georgia Tech, who was the number seed. Kosic was 46.79 in the morning, and only added .08 hundredths in finals to swim a 46.87.
Florida State’s Cadell Lyons took third in 47.26. Christian Homer was 47.33 for fourth for the Gators.
Women’s 200 freestyle finals:
Lindsey McKnight continued the roll for the Gators. McKnight opened her 200 with a 51.73 through the first 100, Her last 50 was also her second fastest, She brought the race home with a 26.82.
Agi Bucz of FAU was second in 1:46.54. Kaitlyn Dressel of Florida State was next, touching in 1:47.12.
Like much of the evening, this race was not close.
Men’s 200 freestyle finals:
Paul Werner and Corey Main, both Gator juniors, put on a good show in the men’s 200 freestyle. Werner ultimately got the win but not without a fight from Main
Main was ahead of Werner by a hair, just .02, going into the final 50. Sophomore Mitch D’Arrigo was ahead of both, but faded in the last 50. At the turn it was D’Arrigo at 1:10.48, Main at 1:10.68, and Wener at 1:10.70.
Werner split 24.09 over the final 50 to take the win. Main split a 24.49, while D’arrigo came home in 24.78.
Men’s 100 breast finals:
Solaeche-Gomez got the Gators back on track after the women’s 100 breast. Solaeche-Gomez did not have much competition, as he won handily in 53.67.
Jason Coombs of Florida State was second in 54.40. Not far behind was Indian River State College sophomore Craig Emslie at 54.65.
Richard Munch was fourth for the Gators in 54.91.
Women’s 100 backstroke finals:
Sinead Russell dropped .96 seconds off her prelim time to go 52.89. Anna Mayfield of Arkansas was second in 53.69, another race that was not very close.
Bianca Spinazzola was third for Florida State with a 53.88. Hinds was fourth for the Gators with a 54.44.
The top 8 swimmers in the backstroke all swam NCAA B Cuts.
Women 800 free relay:
The Gator women capped of their night with another big win. Russell, McKnight, Ashlee Linn, and Thielmann finished in 7:09.92, blowing out the field. McKnight had the fastest split with a 1:46.29.
Arkansas’ A relay of Nina Drolc, Anna Mayfield, Maddie Monroe, and Rachel Stoehr finished second in 7:16.84. Mayfield had the fastest split for her team with a 1:46.10.
FAU’s A relay was third in 7:21.93. FGCU finished in fourth with a 7:26.56.
Men’s 800 free relay:
As good as the Florida women were, the Florida men were even better. Dan Wallace, D’Arrigo, Werner, and Main were a very fast 6:24.27. Wallace was the fastest, from the leadoff, for the gators, hitting a 1:35.27.
Georgia Tech’s A relay was 6:38.87. Indian River’s A relay was 6:46.71.