Tennessee Press Release
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Tennessee women’s swimming and diving team defeated Florida in a road dual meet for the first time in program history Saturday at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium.
The meet came down to the final event, where Kira Toussaint, Madeline Banic, Erika Brown and Micah Bohon touched the wall first for a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay and a 151-149 team win.
Freshman Meghan Small won three individual events — the 200-yard freestyle, the 500 freestyle and the 200 IM — to lead Tennessee. Toussaint won the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke, while Banic won the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
The UT men won five events in a 183-117 loss to Florida. Junior Liam Stone swept both springboard events for a fifth time this season, scoring above 400 points on both 1-meter and 3-meter.
Florida led going into the final 400 freestyle relay with Tennessee needing a victory to win the meet. Swimming the third leg, Brown distanced herself from Florida swimmers for good and Bohon retain the lead as Tennessee finished in 3:19.64, well ahead of the Gators’ 3:21.25.
Florida Press Release
In front of a home crowd of 1,021 Saturday, Florida capped its regular season slate and Stephen C. O'Connell Center Natatorium season debut with a split against Tennessee on Senior Day.
The 10th-ranked Florida men defeated No. 20 Tennessee 183-117, extending their win streak over the Volunteers to nine-straight years.
The women's race was more of a battle that came down to the final event, the 400 free relay. No. 15 Tennessee won that last relay, sneaking by the 20th-ranked Gators 151-149.
Florida honored its seven seniors – Jack Blyzinskyj, Mitch D'Arrigo, Alex Dehner, Autumn Finke, Georgia Hohmann, Taylor Katz and Alyssa Yambor-Maul – prior to the swimming events. The group also divided into two relay teams post-meet for a "senior relay," which the men's relay won with Alex Dehner as the anchor.
During the meet, Blyzinskyj collected two wins in the 100 and 200 back with season-bests of 47.53 and 1:45.82 respectively. He also combined with teammates Chandler Bray, Jan Switkowski and Caeleb Dressel to take the meet-opening 200 medley relay in 1:25.83.
Dressel took three events – the 50 free in an A-cut 19.08, the 200 free in 1:35.29 and the 200 IM in 1:46.12.
Bray, who took care of the breaststroke in the 200 medley relay, also handled the 200 breast, touching first in 1:59.18.
Switkowski added an individual win in the 100 fly, timing out at 47.19. He also anchored the 400 free relay A-team of Maxime Rooney, Mark Szaranek, Enzo Martinez-Scarpe and himself.
Rooney's 44.05 time in the 100 free earned him a win in that event.
Finally for the men, Mark Szaranek's win in the 200 fly at 1:45.18 marked a season-best time.
On the women's side, freshman Brooke Madden threw up two career-bests on the 1-meter (308.85) and 3-meter (326.55).
Freshman Kelly Fertel also posted a team-best 2:14.43 in the 200 breast.
Seniors Taylor Katz and Autumn Finke added two last wins to cap their careers at their home pool. Distance freestyle specialist Finke won the 1000 free in 9:50.90, and Katz the 200 fly in 1:59.70.
