Swimcloud

Florida Sweeps Kentucky

The University of Florida men’s and women’s swimming & diving team (M: 2-0, 2-0 SEC; W, 3-0, 3-0 SEC) won the first 10 swimming events and a combined 22 of 32 events on the night, as the Gators defeated Southeastern Conference-rival Kentucky (M: 0-2, 0-2 SEC; W: 1-1, 1-1 SEC), 164-128 (men) and 161-137 (women), on Thursday night in the Lancaster Aquatic Center in Lexington, Ky. UF is now a combined 27-0 all-time against the Wildcats (M, 15-0, W, 12-0).

Sophomore Jack Blyzinskyj led the men’s team, as he captured first-place finishes in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke in marks of 48.84 and 50.01 seconds, respectively.

The Gator women were led by junior Lindsey McKnight, as she won two individual events and was a member of the first-place 400-yard medley relay team.

Florida is now idle for the next two week, as it next competes at Georgia on Friday, Oct. 31 at 11 a.m. That will be the women's teams’ fourth SEC dual meet, while that meet will be the third for the UF men's squad. 

TROY’S TALKING

On his team’s performance …
“I’m very proud of how well both teams handled a very challenging week of training, and then came out here and raced so well. I’m especially pleased with how many people responded to the adversity of some sickness. No excuses, just a real focus tonight and some tough racing.”

Head Coach Gregg Troy

SERIES HISTORY

Following tonight’s victories, UF is now a combined 27-0 all-time against the Wildcats. (M, 15-0, W, 12-0).

RELAY MAGIC

Florida notched two relay victories in the dual meet, as juniors Sinead Russell, Natalie Hinds, Ashlee Linn and McKnight won the 400-yard medley relay in 3:41.34. The Gator men then won the same event, as junior Pawel Werner, sophomore Jack Blyzinskyj and freshmen Caeleb Dressel and Erik Kahr clocked a time of 3:17.95.

GOING THE DISTANCE

UF swept all four distance events beginning with the 1,000-yard freestyle, as junior Jessica Thielmann won the women’s race in 9:52.38 and senior Carlos Omana placed first in the men’s race with a time of 9:11.59. Later in the evening, Taylor Roy (4:54.89) and Arthur Frayler (4:31.96) captured first-place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle events.

BACK IT UP

Florida captured first-place finishes in all four backstroke races, beginning with junior Sinead Russell and sophomore Jack Blyzinskyj in the 100-yard race with times of 53.23 and 50.01 seconds, respectively. In the 200-yard event, redshirt freshman Georgia Hohmann won in a time of 1:57.44, while sophomore Alex Dehner placed first in 1:49.54. This was Dehner’s first individual victory of the season.

FREESTYLING

Florida’s women won all three sprint events, as Hinds placed first in the 50-yard freestyle (22.88), Russell won the 100-yard race (50.78) and Thielmann captured the fastest time in the 200-yard event (1:49.15).

The Gator men swept the same three events beginning with Werner, as he won both the 50-yard and 100-yard races in times of 19.94 and 44.35 seconds, respectively. Sophomore Mitch D’Arrigo capped off the Gator sweep in the 200-yard freestyle with an NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 1:37.55.

BREASTSTROKE

The Florida women took both breaststroke titles, as McKnight and Kahr placed first each race. McKnight won the 100-yard and 200-yard races with times of 1:02.86 and 2:17.16, while Kahr took the 100-yard and 200-yard crowns in 56.74 and 2:06.93, respectively. The victories were Kahr’s first and second individual wins of his collegiate career.

DOING IT ALL

Thielmann placed first in the 400-yard individual medley in a time of 4:21.29, giving her three first-place finishes in the meet.

POSTSEASON FOCUS

In addition to an outstanding night of first-place finishes, UF recorded three NCAA ‘B’ standard marks throughout the dual meet. They were:
·         Mitch D’Arrigo (200 Free, 1:37.55)

·         Georgia Hohmann (200 Back, 1:57.44)

·         Sinead Russell (100 Back, 53.23)

 

 

Highlighted by two wins each from seniors Christina Bechtel and Christa Cabot and freshman Levi Lindsey, the Kentucky swimming and diving team lost to perennial powerhouse Florida Thursday night at the Lancaster Aquatics Center. The women fell 161-137 while the men lost 164-128 to the defending Southeastern Conference champions.

“We knew it was going to be tough, but I thought we fought hard today,” UK head coach Lars Jorgensen said. “We made some progress in certain areas and had some good races, but we just need to continue to get better for NCAAs. Florida is the defending SEC Champions so they are really good on the men’s side. We need to get better, but that’s ok because it’s still early. We’ll keep on building towards March.”

Bechtel, who won three events in last weekend’s season-opener, claimed wins in the 100 and 200 butterfly. The Franklin, Tenn., native won both events with NCAA B qualifying times.

Led by Cabot and Lindsey, UK swept all four diving events. A two-time All-American in 2014, Cabot won the 1- and 3-meter competition, both with season-high scores. Lindsey won the first collegiate event of his career in the 3-meter before a win in the 1-meter.

“Overall I thought, the team had a very positive attitude,” head diving coach Ted Hautau said. “Levi Lindsey stood out, he had a great event in the 3-meter which was huge for him. He is a very inexperienced diver and he performed really well. The men went 1-2 on 1-meter which was huge for both of them. Stephen Jou dove great. Christa Cabot won both events and did a phenomenal job. I thought the girls stepped up, especially Christa.”

Sophomore Kyle Higgins added a win for the Wildcats in the 200 butterfly as Kentucky also recorded 17 runner-up finishes.

Kentucky hits the road for the first time this season, Oct. 31 in Knoxville, Tenn. The Wildcats face SEC foe Tennessee and Indiana at 2 p.m. ET. UK returns home Nov. 7 and 8 for a quad meet featuring Missouri, Northwestern and Southern Illinois. Competition begins at 1 p.m. with the diving events, while swimming commences at 6 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the Lancaster Aquatics Center. Nov. 8’s schedule will be announced at a later date, tentatively set to begin at 9 or 11 a.m.

Cabot claimed her first victory of the season with a 327.83 in the 3-meter event. The senior bested Florida’s Kahlia Warner by just over four points. In the 1-meter event, Cabot tallied a 327.45, also a season-best to win by over 20 points over Warner.

Lindsey earned his first collegiate victory on 1-meter with a career-best 307.43. The first-year diver beat out teammate and fellow freshman Stephen Jou, who finished second with a career-high 292.28. On 3-meter, Lindsey won with a 360.75 to cap a perfect night for the UK divers.

Bechtel notched UK’s first win of the day with a 1:57.70 in the 200 yard butterfly. The senior finished over four seconds faster than the second-place swimmer, Florida’s Alyssa Yambor-Maul to post an NCAA B qualifying time in the event.

In the very next event, UK posted a 1-2 finish in the men’s 200 butterfly. Higgins won with a season-best 1:49.96, ahead of teammate Isaac Jones, who touched the wall in 1:50.54.

After an NCAA-best time in the 100 butterfly last week, Bechtel bested her time with a 53.03 to win the event Thursday. A member of the USA Swimming National Team in 2014-15, Bechtel’s win in the 100 butterfly was her team-best fifth of the young season.

UK’s runner-up finishes, 17 in all, was headlined by Bechtel, who finished second in three events, and sophomore Brandon Flynn and freshman Isaac Jones, who both recorded two runner-up finishes.

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