The University of Florida Gators used a ton of depth to cruise past Florida Atlantic Saturday. The Gator women swept FAU to win 175-112, while the Gator men, missing 8 of their top swimmers and 1 top diver (who are away competing at the SMU Classic this weekend), let some fresh faces pick up event wins in a 166-123 victory.
Elizabeth Beisel had two huge victories for the Gators. First she went 1:54.60 in the 200 fly, her first foray into that event according to USA Swimming. That time ranks 7th in the NCAA so far this season and crushed the field by 8 seconds.
Beisel followed that up with a 4:37.04 win in the 500 free – that’s the 6th-fastest time in the NCAA, meaning Beisel put up two top-10 swims in mid-January in two events she hardly ever swims, an awfully good weekend even by Beisel’s high standards. She also led off in 49.9 on the 400 free relay for the Gators.
The former U.S. Olympian, who was dealing with a cold early in the month according to coach Gregg Troy, seems to be swimming fast at the right time, ramping up to what will be her last NCAA Championships in March.
Lindsey McKnight and Natalie Hinds were also double-winners for Florida. McKnight took the 100 breast (1:05.10) and 200 IM (2:04.57), while Hinds swept the backstrokes (56.12 in the 100 back, 2:03.02 in the 200 back).
The Gator men were nearly as dominant themselves, having only a little trouble in the sprint races with top 50 man Bradley deBorde competing at SMU for the weekend.
Junior Christian Homer filled in for deBorde in the 50, going 21.09 to scrape out a two-tenths-of-a-second win. He also added a 100 fly win with a 48.77 late in the meet.
Pawel Werner had a big day for Florida, going 1:38.33 to win the 200 free and following that up with a 4:27.49 touchout win over teammate Arthur Frayler, who won the 1000 free at this meet.
Florida Atlantic won two events, capitalizing on Florida’s sprint weakness for the first. FAU sophomore Matthieu Burtez went 45.98 to win the 100 free over Florida’s Andrea D’Arrigo, typically a distance swimmer who was inserted to fill the shoes of the absent deBorde.
The Owls also picked up the win in 3-meter diving with junior Greg Cox‘s 314.25-point performance. Second place in that event was Florida’s Christopher Jones, and the two flip-flopped spots in the 1-meter event. Jones officially qualified for Zones with his 1-meter score after missing much of the fall with a shoulder injury.
The Gators host Auburn in Gainesville next Saturday while the Florida Atlantic Owls face Florida International in two weeks.
I would love to see her do the 500/400im/200 fly!! I think the 500 is wide open and she could easily go a 4:32 or better. I think her 400 IM will be lights out..for some reason I feel like she has been holding back I yards for her entire collegiate career; but it’s her senior year and she is unstoppable this year. And then day 3 is up in the air-clearly the 200 back is probably out of the question with Franklin/pelton/bartholomew/Brandon …but the 200 fly is very open, besides Adams and she has always been a fantastic distance swimmer so I can see her giving peacock a run for her money.
Can’t wait to watch her in march!!
Hope she does the 500 at NCAA’s but I would be very surprised to see her in the mile.
Yes. I’m impressed by Miss Beisel’s 200 fly. 1.54 now, wow! Butterfly is her weakness in the 400 IM at the international level against Hosszu. If she continues to improve it, it can only be a good thing for her 2016 olympic gold medal dreams.
She’s ready for a big end of her last college season.
What will she swim in March? 500 free or 200 IM on day 1? 400 IM on day 2. And 1650 free or 200 back or 200 fly on day 3? Apart from the 400 IM, everything else looks very open.
I’ve been wondering for years when Beisel is going to swim the 500 instead of the 200 IM at NCAAs, and the 1650 instead of the 200 Back. Now she should consider the 200 Fly at NCAAs.