TENNESSEE VS. FLORIDA
- Results
- Saturday, January 28th
- Hosted by Florida
- 25 yards
- Dual meet format
FINAL TEAM SCORES
- WOMEN- Tennessee 151, Florida 149
- MEN- Florida 183, Tennessee 117
The Tennessee women made program history on Saturday when they took down the Florida Gators in Gainesville for the first time ever. It came down to the final event, with the Volunteers notching a 2-point victory after winning the 400 free relay. On the men’s side of things, the Gators were able to secure the win over Tennessee with a score of 183-117.
A handfull of Volunteers won multiple individual races in the women’s team victory. On of those swimmers was freshman Meghan Small, who has proved to be a valuable asset for the team in her first season of NCAA swimming. Small pulled off a winning triple, starting with victories in the 200 free (1:47.25) and 500 free (4:48.36). She closed out her schedule in the 200 IM, posting the only sub-2:00 time to win in 1:59.06.
Sophomore Madeline Banic and All-American Kira Toussaint also registered multiple wins. Toussaint swept her signature backstroke races, clocking a 53.62 in the 100 back and a 1:56.82 in the 200 back. Banic, on the other hand, notched victories in the 50 free (23.00) and 100 fly (53.11).
On the men’s side, Caeleb Dressel was a triple event winner for the Gators. He first put up a fast 200 free, winning with a 1:35.29. That was the fastest he’s ever been in a regular season dual meet in the event. Dressel went on to dominate the 50 free, throwing down a 19.08 to outswim Tennessee sprinter Kyle Decoursey (19.86). He completed his triple in the 200 IM, putting up a 1:46.12 ahead of Tennessee All-American Sam McHugh (1:47.65).
In addition to his strong individual performance, Dressel also had a big swim on the 200 medley relay. He blasted an 18.37 split as the 200 medley relay anchor to run down Tennessee’s Decoursey (19.13) and win it for the Gators.
PRESS RELEASE – TENNESSEE
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 Bohontouched 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.
INSIDE THE WOMEN’S MEET: Tennessee won 11 of 16 events, highlighted by multi-win days by Meghan Small, Kira Toussaint and Madeline Banic.
Small won the 200 freestyle in 1:47.25, the 500 freestyle in 4:48.36 and the 200 IM in 1:59.06. It was her season-best in the 200 freestyle and her first collegiate 500 freestyle race.
Toussaint put together her third two-win meet of the season, taking first in the 100 backstroke (53.62) and the 200 backstroke (1:56.82).
Banic led a 1-2 Tennessee finish in the 50 freestyle, winning in 23.00 and followed closely by junior Alex Cleveland in 23.29. Banic also won the 100 butterfly by nearly two seconds (53.11)
Other individual winners included Erika Brown in the 100 freestyle (49.84) and Meg Wiggins in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.62).
In addition to winning the 400 freestyle relay, Tennessee also led off the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay (1:39.21).
In diving, Rachel Rubadue picked up a pair of second-place finishes on 1-meter (301.87) and 3-meter (312.90). Emily Pelletier recorded a career-best 298.12 on platform.
INSIDE THE MEN’S MEET: Junior Liam Stone led the Vols with one of his best all-around diving performances in a dual meet. He recorded over 400 in both events in one meet for the first time in his career. He won the 1-meter with a score of 402.67 and the 3-meter with a score of 417.90.
The Vols also had a standout day in the men’s distance events. Redshirt junior David Heron won the 1,000 freestyle in a season-best 9:00.64. Later in the meet, freshman Marc Hinawi won his first collegiate race, taking first in the 500 freestyle in 4:23.04.
Junior Peter John Stevens won the 100 breaststroke in 53.72.
Comments from Head Coach Matt Kredich: “It definitely feels good to come from behind to win on the road. It showed a lot of character for us to win. Erika Brown had a great meet. It was a really good example of what we wanted our team to display. She had a 200 free that she wasn’t happy with but she won the 100 free convincingly and going third on the relay she had an outstanding split. That’s where the real separation happened. Micah Bohon has a great last relay leg.
“Just looking at the results and the final score, any single race that turned the other way. We won a lot of close races and we also had great performances from Kira, Maddy and Meghan. It was Meghan’s idea to swim the 500 free and it turned out to be critical for us. It was one of our best ever in a dual meet. Meg Wiggins won a close 100 breast and that was huge for her. We had a lot of that across the pool, including on the men’s side. it’s a place that has a distinct home advantage and we carried our own atmosphere into the pool. We weren’t bothered by a hostile crowd.
“We had another great performance by David Heron in the 1000. His finish was spectacular. Marc Hinawi had a breakout meet and should give him confidence in SECs. His 1000 was good and his 500 was exceptional. Sam McHugh has been sick the last few days and competed with a lot of grit. He did a great job competing for us today. Florida’s a deeper team than we are but we saw some great races today.”
Comments from Diving Coach Dave Parrington: “Liam Stone had a fantastic day, breaking 400 on both boards for the first time in a dual meet, especially in a hostile environment. I was really pleased. He got up and competed well with some big dives and was victorious pretty handedly. Michael and Nick had good days as well.
On the women’s side, Rachel had a couple good seconds and Emily had a career-high on the 3-meter, which was good to see. Overall, we came out of here with many positives that sets us up well to compete on our home boards. Being a part of our first ever women’s victory at the Swamp was very exciting.”
PRESS RELEASE – FLORIDA
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.
WATCH: Swimming and diving post-meet updates from GatorVision’s Shelby Granath
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.
FLORIDA’S WINS
Men
50 free – Caeleb Dressel (19.08)
100 back – Jack Blyzinskyj (47.53)
100 fly – Jan Switkowski (47.19)
100 free – Maxime Rooney (44.05)
200 back – Jack Blyzinskyj (1:45.82)
200 breast – Chandler Bray (1:59.18)
200 fly – Mark Szaranek (1:45.18)
200 free – Caeleb Dressel (1:35.29)
200 IM – Caeleb Dressel (1:46.12)
200 medley relay – A-team (Jack Blyzinskyj, Chandler Bray, Jan Switkowski, Caeleb Dressel) – 1:25.83
400 free relay – A-team (Maxime Rooney, Mark Szaranek, Enzo Martinez-Scarpe, Jan Switkowski) – 2:55.88
Women
1-meter – Brooke Madden (308.85)
3-meter – Brooke Madden (326.55)
200 breast – Kelly Fertel (2:14.43)
200 fly – Taylor Katz (1:59.70)
1000 free – Autumn Finke (9:50.90)
UP NEXT
The Gators will now prepare for the SEC Championships, which are hosted this year in Knoxville, Tennessee from Feb. 14-18.
AB
Think the UT women were missing at least a couple key contributors due to illness so the victory was probably a bit closer than it might have been had they participated! Great win for the Lady Vols!
where are Evan Pinion and Ethan Browne
Noticed Browne not on the Roster and Evan has had several injuries. Sad, he was a SUPER TALENT out of HS.
so proud of this team
Caeleb Dressel coming home in 22.7 in his 200, nice.
Looks like the Lady Vols are getting ready for a show at SECs. Could they win it for the first time ever? Are they good enough to crack the top five at NCAAs??
Not this year, but Meghan Small will lead them to top 3-5 by her senior year. She’s got a killer 400 IM
Didn’t Caeleb Dressel split 18.37 on Florida’s medley relay? Seems a bit noteworthy, not only cause the time, not only cause it’s a dual meet, but because it’s his best split relative to his flat start time of the same meet.
And PJ Stevens 23.41 breaststroke split. Crazy fast.
Florida women having a rough year. Have not looked the same since Elizabeth Beisel.
It’s a very young team for the most part, but the women aren’t coming around as quickly as the men’s recruits have. Liliana Szilagyi has been in Gainesville for a few weeks now. If she gets eligible for SECs, it changes a lot of things for them. They really need a breaststroker though. The backstroker from Canada is going to surprise a lot of people, and Sherridon Dressel is a very raw, very talented gem of an athlete. They have some bright spots, but no depth at all. The men’s team is deep almost everywhere.
Stevens is so fast…could we see a 21 breaststroke split when he is shaved, tapered and wearing suit? My bet is YES!
Yes. He also swam a 19.08 flat start 50, a 1:35.2 200 free, a 1:46.1 200 IM finishing in a 24, and immediately got up to lead off the 400 free relay in 44.0. It’s crazy to think, but we are almost definitely going to see an 18 in the 50 in a DUAL MEET before he graduates. He was only 9 hundredths from it today. Also notable, UF got 3 1:35s in the 200 free and D’Arrigo and Rooney didn’t even swim it. Chandler Bray is starting to come around as is Blyzinskyj now, so Florida is looking good for end of season medleys.
Didn’t Caeleb Dressel anchor Florida’s medley relay in an 18.37? Seems note worthy not only cause the time and not only cause it’s a dual meet, but because it is his best relay split ever relative to his flat start time of the same meet.