Florida swept a pair of meets against FAU on Friday.
Florida Press Release
BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Gators proved they didn’t miss a beat coming back from their holiday break, defeating Florida Atlantic 152-83 on the men’s side and 155-79 on the women’s Friday afternoon.
Florida now moves to 36-0 all-time against FAU with 18 wins on each side.
UF took victories through 16 swimming events and both the 1- and 3-meter springboards and then opted to swim the 500 free, 200 breast and 200 free relay as exhibitions.
The wins were widespread throughout Florida’s roster – Samuel Smith (1- and 3-meter) and Sherridon Dressel (200 back and 200 free) were the only two Gators to capture multiple individual titles.
For the relays, both the Gators’ A-teams won the 200 medley relay. Jack Blyzinskyj, Mark Szaranek, Jan Switkowski and Caeleb Dressel combined for the men’s win at 1:30.41, while Emma Ball, Savanna Faulconer, Alyssa Yambor-Maul and Kelsey Dambacher won for the women in 1:44.60.
Khader Baqlah introduced himself to the Florida roster this afternoon with a win in the 100 free. Baqlah, an early addition from last fall’s signing class, registered the Gators’ fourth-best time in the event this season at 45.00. Alyssa Yambor-Maul took the 100 free on the women’s side in 52.80.
Enzo Martinez-Scarpe and Amelia Maughan combined for wins in the 50 free at 20.43 and 24.00 respectively. Sherridon Dressel got her pair of wins in the 200 back (2:01.78) and 200 free (1:51.01). Brennan Balogh (1:49.28) and Mitch D’Arrigo (1:38.16) won the 200 back and 200 free for the men.
Savanna Faulconer and Andrew Brady got it done for Florida in distance. Faulconer took the win in 16:52.26, while Brady touched in 15:49.42.
A pair of sophomores swept the 400 IM – Ross Palazzo took the men’s title in 3:56.41, and Sydney Sell won for the women in 4:27.29.
Taylor Katz, who has competed in a limited capacity this season due to injury, won the 200 fly in 2:04.37, and Mark Szaranek won the same event in 1:48.89.
In the diving well, Samuel Smith won big on the 3-meter, putting up a career-best 397.57. He also took the 1-meter title with a season-high 348.22 score.
Brooke Madden and Teya Syskakis split the 1- and 3-meter titles. Madden’s career-high score of 291.60 gave her the win on the 1-meter, while Syskakis scored 299.02 on the 3-meter.
GILLOOLY’S TAKE ON DIVING
“It was really fun for me personally to come back to FAU where I spent the last two seasons. Yaidel Gamboa, the new (diving) coach, has done a great job with the team and especially the new recruits. It was great to see. The Gators did a solid job coming off of a long layoff and are in a good position to perform even better tomorrow against Miami.”
