2024 Florida Invitational
- Feb. 1-3, 2024
- Gainesville, Florida
- O’Connell Center Natatorium
- Florida vs. NOVA Southeastern
- Results on MeetMobile: “2024 Florida Invitational”
Florida saw a pair of decade-old school records fall on Friday night at the 2024 Florida Invitational courtesy of newcomers Isabel Ivey and Bella Sims.
Ivey, a graduate transfer from Cal, got the record-breaking action going with a season-best time of 1:43.03 in the 200-yard freestyle, taking down the program record of 1:43.10 that Caroline Burckle set back in 2008. The former top recruit now ranks 6th in the NCAA this season.
Sims, a freshman who already boasts an Olympic silver medal from Tokyo, had one of her finest performances of the season at the end of the session. First the 18-year-old phenom blasted a personal-best 50.44 in the 100 backstroke, shaving almost a tenth off her previous-best 50.53 from December of 2022. Not only does her new lifetime best rank 7th in both the NCAA and U.S. girls’ 17-18 national age group (NAG) rankings, but it also snuck under Gemma Spofforth‘s old school record of 50.46 from 2009.
Sims returned to the pool just a few minutes later for quick turnaround leading off Gator women’s 800 free relay, where she blazed a season-best 1:43.04 that just barely missed Ivey’s new school record from earlier in the session by .01 seconds. The two fastest 200 free performances in Florida school history happened just about half an hour apart.
Tough doubles are nothing new for Sims. Back in November of 2022, the Sandpipers of Nevada standout broke two world junior records in the 200-meter free (1:52.59) and 100 back (55.75) with just 12 minutes to recover in between.
In other highlights from the second night of the Florida Invitational, the Gator men’s 200 medley recorded a season-best time of 1:22.95 that ranks 4th in the NCAA. Their previous best this season stood at 1:23.02 from the Georgia Invitational, where Aleksas Savickas swam the breaststroke leg instead of Julian Smith. Check out their splits comparison below:
Splits comparison, Florida men’s 200 medley relays
| 2024 Florida Invitational | 2023 Georgia Invitational | |
| 50 back | Adam Chaney – 21.04 | Adam Chaney – 20.73 |
| 50 breast | Julian Smith – 23.28 | Aleksas Savickas – 23.85 |
| 50 fly | Josh Liendo 19.86 | Josh Liendo – 19.57 |
| 50 free | Macguire McDuff – 18.77 | Macguire McDuff – 18.87 |
| 200 medley relay | 1:22.95 | 1:23.02 |
Smith has been as fast as 52.15 in the 100 breast this season, compared to 52.47 for Savickas.
Is it just me or is the math wrong on the splits for the relay
Maybe an 18.7 for Duff-man?
It is. McDuff split 18.77. Of note also, Ed Fullum-Huot split 18.85 on the B relay.