Florida Press Release
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Although the meet was pushed up due to impending weather, the No. 21 Gator women continued their dominating performance through Saturday afternoon, defeating Miami (FL) 180-115 in the two teams’ first dual meeting since 2005.
With the win, the Gators now bump their all-time record to 27-2 against the Hurricanes.
Florida won 11 straight swimming events before counting the last two, the 200 IM and 400 free relay, as exhibition swims. The 100 fly marked the lone win for the Hurricanes by a slim .03 seconds.
Unlike yesterday’s meet at Florida Atlantic, Florida’s event winners were not as varied. Today, three swimmers combined for six of the 10 individual wins.
Autumn Finke took care of distance, winning both the 500 free (4:55.48) and 1000 free (10:00.24).
Sherridon Dressel touched first in both sprint freestyles, timing out at 23.37 in the 50 and 51.15 in the 100.
Fellow freshman Kelly Fertel controlled the breaststroke events, placing first in the 100 (1:03.85) and 200 (2:17.90).
A freshman, a sophomore, a junior and a senior won the final four events for Florida. Emma Ball took first in the 100 back at 55.62, while Sydney Sell won the 200 in 2:01.46. Amelia Maughan and Alyssa Yambor-Maul rounded out the individual wins, with Maughan taking the 200 free title in 1:50.72 and Yambor-Maul the 200 fly in 2:01.06.
Ball, Savanna Faulconer, Yambor-Maul and Dressel also teamed up for the 400 medley relay, which they won in 3:45.42.
On both of the springboards, Teya Syskakis, Abby Howell and Brianna Felegi placed 3-4-5 each time.
TROY’S TAKE ON SWIMMING
“It was a very good meet today. The women picked up where they left off yesterday. They raced well and showed great focus as we had several delays and unique situations due to weather. Freshmen Sherridon Dressel and Kelly Fertel had especially good races. Autumn Finke and Hannah Burns had multiple swims that were impressive.”
GILLOOLY’S TAKE ON DIVING
“Today was another great experience for me personally being back at my alma mater with this Gator team. We faced a great Miami team under some difficult weather conditions. With a cold front coming in bringing wind and rain, I think our outdoor training during the beginning of the year helped get us through. This was a good launching point for the second part of the season and really exposed our strengths and weaknesses. The team comes off this meet motivated and ready to work.”
