Florida and Texas A&M split an SEC showdown in College Station today.
Florida Press Release
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Florida ended its busy week with a split at Texas A&M. The eighth-ranked Gator men defeated the Aggies 159-141, while the 18th-ranked Gator women fell to the 14th-ranked Aggies 171-124.
The Florida men took nine of the 16 events in the meet. Caeleb Dressel led with three titles in the 50 free (19.68), 200 free (1:35.99) and 200 IM (1:46.17), and all of his times qualified as NCAA B-standard.
Mitch D'Arrigo was second on the men's team, getting it done in distance free with two titles in the 500 free (4:28.44) and 1000 free (9:08.90). Fellow Olympian Jan Switkowski also won two titles – one individual in the 100 free with a B-standard 44.25 time and another as a part of the 400 free relay team. The Florida A-team of Switkowski, Maxime Rooney, Jack Blyzinskyj and Enzo Martinez-Scarpe combined to win the relay in 2:58.78.
Mark Szaranek rounded out the men's wins with a 1:48.44 time in the 200 fly.
On the women's side, two female Gators defended their backstroke titles they won on Thursday at Arkansas. Emma Ball repeated in the 100 back with a B-standard 54.49 time, while Sydney Sell also won the 200 back for the second time in three days at 1:59.42.
Freshman Kelsey Dambacher showed poise in the 100 free, beating out Texas A&M counterpart Raena Eldridge by .01 seconds in the 100 free. Dambacher touched at 50.81, capturing the first individual dual-meet title of her career.
In diving, the Gators split the two events. Samuel Smith took the 3-meter men's title with 377.03 points, an NCAA-qualifying score, and Brooke Madden won the 1-meter for the women with 259.43 points.
Teya Syskakis also registered another NCAA-qualifying score with her runner-up finish in the 1-meter, while Dylan Power and Smith qualified in the 1-meter.
Florida is off next week and will resume competition at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, which runs from Thursday, Nov. 17 to Saturday, Nov. 19.
TROY'S TAKE ON SWIMMING
"The women had a good weekend. We had some marked improvement over what we've done before. They raced really well in both meets (against Arkansas) and an extremely good Texas A&M team, and while we were on the short end of the score, we had some young people who stood out well. Coming on the heels of traveling to Arkansas, I thought they responded very well.
"On the men's side, it was a good team performance – lots and lots of close races. Caeleb Dressel and Mitch D'Arrigo were outstanding today. It was good to leave Texas A&M with a win on the men's side."
GILLOOLY'S TAKE ON DIVING
"It was a great performance for the entire team today. Texas A&M has an outstanding group of divers, one of the best we have faced off against this season. Our divers have been coming off some intense early season training and were able to battle through fatigue, especially the women coming off back-to-back meets. Sam Smith had a very impressive win today on 3-meter against some of the best divers in the country and a breakthrough win for freshman Brooke Madden on 1-meter as she gets better with each competition. The whole team continues to learn and progress as we prepare for the Georgia Tech Invitational in two weeks."
Texas A&M Press Release
The No. 14 Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team moved to 2-0 in Southeastern Conference competition after a 171-124 victory over the No. 18 Florida Gators on Saturday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
“I thought we had some very solid swims. We are moving toward our invite in two weeks and we had a lot of season best times tonight,” head coach Steve Bultman said following the meet. “We had some really good swims Thursday, but some people that swam the same events tonight swam even faster. That is good to see.”
The Aggies won 12 out of 16 events while claiming at least the top two spots in eight races and logging more than a dozen NCAA qualifying cuts. Posting multiple wins for Texas A&M was senior Sarah Gibson with a trio of first-place finishes. Clinching single individual victories were senior Ashley McGregor, juniors Bethany Galat, Béryl Gastaldello and Jorie Caneta, sophomore Claire Rasmus and freshmen Katie Portz and Kaley Batten.
A first-team or honorable mention All-American in seven events last year, Gibson, from San Antonio, Texas, continued her dominating senior season with victories in the 1,000-yard freestyle, the 100 butterfly and the 200 butterfly. Gibson won the 1,000 free in 9:49.15, and then posted NCAA “B” cuts of 53.68 in the 100 fly and 1:57.59 in the 200 fly.
The Aggies went 1-2 in the 200 free with Rasmus winning in 1:48.30 followed by junior Kristin Malone in 1:48.71. Caneta led a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 breast in a time of 1:00.79 and junior Franko Jonker right behind in 1:00.94, which were both NCAA “B” cuts. Gastaldello and teammate Raena Eldridge went 1-2 in the 50 free with Gastaldello winning in a “B” cut time of 22.26. The Aggies grabbed the top four spots in the 200 breast with all four swimmers logging “B” cuts, including McGregor’s winning time of 2:12.44. Portz led a 1-2 finish in the 500 free with a time of 4:53.34. The Aggies logged another 1-2-3-4 finish in the 200 IM with Bethany Galat (2:00.48) and sophomore transfer Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (2:01.46) both tallying “B” cuts.
In the diving well, Batten grabbed a first-place finish in the three-meter dive with a score of 292.13 and was second on the one-meter board (256.43)
In their second home meet, the Aggies once again opened and closed the meet with relay victories. The Aggie foursome of junior Lisa Bratton, Caneta, Gastadello and Eldridge touched first in the 200 medley relay in 1:39.49, and the group of Rasmus, Portz, sophomore Natasha Gvakharia and Gastaldello finished first with a time of 3:22.72 in the 400 free relay.
The Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team dropped a narrow 159-141 decision to the defending Southeastern Conference Champion and No. 8-ranked Florida Gators on Saturday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
“You hope to put your guys into some competitive situations and that is what dual meets do. We knew coming in that it was Florida and we know who they are. I thought that our guys did a great job competing with them,” Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. “The score could have been a little different, but it came down to a race. Opening up with the 200 medley relay win was huge. As soon as that happened, I knew that we had a shot to make this really interesting. It was a good meet. All of this is just getting us ready for the SEC Championships, which is where we need to be our best and qualify for the NCAA meet.”
Texas A&M claimed victories in six races, including the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet. The foursome of junior Brock Bonetti, junior Mauro Castillo, freshman Mateo Gonzalez and senior Jacob Gonzales rallied past the Gators for a winning time of 1:28.00. Trailing by nearly a half-second after backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly legs, Gonzales’ quick 19.77 freestyle split gave the Aggies the victory by .04.
Grabbing multiple individual victories on the day for the Aggies were Castillo and Bonetti, who both swept their specialties – the breaststroke and the backstroke while logging NCAA “B” qualifying cuts. Castillo won the 100 breast in 54.18 and the 200 breast in 1:44.62, while Bonetti finished first in the 100 back in 48.02 and the 200 back in 1:44.62.
Earning an individual victory, senior Turker Ayar swam an impressive 48.33 to clinch first place in the 100 fly and also placed second in the 200 fly (1:49.58).
Aggies grabbing runner-up finishes were sophomore Angel Martinez in the 200 free (1:40.19), Gonzales in the 50 free (20.29), sophomore Ben Walker in the 200 breast (2:01.41) and freshman Adam Koster in the 100 free (45.12).
The diving team scored high for the Aggies with a 1-2-3 finish in the one-meter dive. Junior Tyler Henschel topped the leader board with a 390.00 dive. Henschel was followed by sophomores Sam Thornton and Skylar Lake. On the three-meter board, Henschel took second with a score of 360.98, while Lake was third with 332.40.
The Aggies closed the meet with a runner-up finish in the 400 free relay with the foursome of Gonzales, Koster, Ayar and junior Justin Morey touching in a time of 3:00.74.
