FLORIDA VS. TENNESSEE
- Results
- Hosted by Tennessee
- Friday, January 26th
- 25 Yards
- Dual Meet Format
FINAL TEAM SCORES:
- MEN: Florida 178, Tennessee 122
- WOMEN: Tennessee 184, Florida 116
Florida’s Caeleb Dressel pulled off a winning triple to help the Gators to victory over Tennessee. He got the ball rolling with an 18.91 free split on the 200 medley relay and later won the individual 50 free in 19.41, just out-touching Tennessee’s Kyle Decoursey (19.48). Dressel, who turned heads with his 200 IM performance at the Purdue Invite back in November, won the event against the Vols with a quick 1:44.94. He also swam to a 53.23 victory in the 100 breast, outpacing teammate Marco Guarente (53.61) and Tennessee’s Peter Stevens (53.65) through the back half.
All-American Khader Baqlah and standout freshman Michael Taylor each won a double for Florida. Baqlah dominated his signature 200 free in 1:35.88 before picking up a 4:22.20 win to top the 500 free field by 2 seconds. Taylor led from start to finish in the 100 back with his 47.71. He completed the backstroke sweep in the 200 back, pulling ahead of Tennessee’s Joey Reilman (1:47.10) on the back half to win it in 1:44.83. Fellow Gator freshman Clark Beach was able to catch Reilman for 2nd place in 1:46.77, while Reilman wound up 3rd.
Though she wasn’t listed on Tennessee’s roster earlier in the year and didn’t compete this fall, sprint ace Maddy Banic was back in action for the Vols to help them to victory over Florida on the women’s side. This was Banic’s second meet back, as she competed against Georgia last week. She clipped teammate Stanzi Moseley, 22.77 to 22.86, for the 50 free win. Banic also finished 3rd in the 100 fly (55.17). Teammate Erika Brown, who won the 100 fly in 52.31, picked up a winning double for the Vols as she won the 200 free (1:47.71) earlier in the session. SEC champ Meghan Small also had a pair of wins with her performances in the 200 fly (1:59.44) and 200 IM (1:59.94).
PRESS RELEASE – FLORIDA:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The no. 4/16 Florida Gators split their final dual meet of the season against the no. 9/12 Tennessee Volunteers on Friday at the Jones Aquatics Center.
Florida’s fourth-ranked men’s squad played spoiler to Tennessee on its Senior Day, defeating the Volunteers 178-122. The 16th-ranked Florida women fell to no. seven Tennessee 184-116 during the meet.
The Gators’ hold the all-time series advantage over Tennessee, with the men moving to 25-20 and the women falling to 27-5 in dual meet competition.
The men finished the dual meet season with a 7-1 record and the women recorded a 4-5 record during the 2017-18 campaign.
Senior Caeleb Dressel and sophomore Khader Baqlah led the men’s team with three wins apiece during the meet. Dressel notched B-cut times in all three of his event victories against the Volunteers: 50 free (19.41), 100 breast (53.23) and 200 IM (1:44.94).
Balqah recorded two B-cuts as well, swimming a 1:35.88 in the 200 free and registering a time of 4:22.20 in the 500 free. The sophomore’s final victory came in the last event of the meet, the 400 free relay, in which the team recorded a time of 2:56.01.
Jan Switkowski, Mark Szaranek and Michael Taylor each contributed two wins apiece for the Gators.
Switkowski and Szaranek swept the butterfly events with B-cut times, with Switkowski swimming a 47.08 in the 100 fly and Szaranek recording a time of 1:45.53 in the 200 fly. Both men were also on the winning 400 free relay team that recorded a time of 2:56.01.
Taylor’s victories came from a sweep of the backstroke events, where he swam B-cut times of 47.71 (100 back) and 1:44.83 (200 back).
Ben Lawless (1000 free), Marco Guarente (200 breast) and Maxime Rooney (400 free relay) round out the victories by the Gator men.
On the women’s side, freshman Taylor Ault led the way for Florida with two wins against the Volunteers. She swam a 9:52.83 in the 1000 free and notched a B-cut in the 500 free with a time of 4:47.04 to nab her second victory of the meet.
Sophomore Emma Ball grabbed a win for the Gator women, swimming a B-cut time of 53.50 in the 100 back to clinch the victory.
Brooke Madden rounded out the wins for Florida, finishing first on the 1-meter board with a Zone qualifying score of 304.80.
The men finished with 22 top-3 finishes throughout the meet, while the women notched 18 of their own.
Florida is back in action on Feb. 2-4 at the Auburn Invitational.
Swimming Towards Postseason:
- Baqlah and Rooney both recorded B-cuts in the 200 free with times of 1:35.88 and 1:37.92, respectively.
- Ball (53.50) recorded a B-cut in the women’s 100 back and Taylor (47.71) followed suit in the men’s 100 back.
- Four Gators notched B-cut times in the 100 breast: Dressel (53.23), Guarente (53.61), Stanley Wu (54.97) and Chandler Bray (55.20).
- M. Szaranek and Switkowski pitched in B-cut times in the 100 and 200 butterfly events. Szaranek swam a 47.52 in the 100 fly and 1:45.53 in the 200 fly. Switkowski finished with a swim of 1:46.96 in the 200 fly and 47.08 in the 100 fly.
- Dressel notched B-cuts in both the 50 free (19.41) and 200 IM (1:44.94).
- In the 200 back, Taylor swam a B-cut qualification of 1:44.83.
- Three Gators recorded B-cuts in the 200 breast: Kelly Fertel (2:15.15) and Hannah Burns (2:15.79) on the women’s side and Guarente (1:56.81) on the men’s squad.
- Four Gators in total recorded B-cuts in the 500 free, with Ault (4:47.04) and Savanna Faulconer (4:47.27) representing the women’s team. Baqlah and Lawless were the men who swam B-cut times of 4:22.20 and 4:24.58, respectively.
Diving Towards Postseason:
- Madden notched Zone scores in both the 1-meter event (304.80) and 3-meter event (294.75).
- Emma Whitner recorded a Zone score of 284.25 in the 3-meter event.
Straight from the Source- Head Coach Gregg Troy:
- “On the women’s side, we raced well and showed some improvements throughout the meet. Some of our weaknesses did show against a team that was deeper than us and we did not swim well in the sprint events. We did a tremendous job in the distance events and medleys, including great performances by Savanna Faulconer, Taylor Ault and Hannah Burns. On the men’s side, we were not as good as we wanted to be. They started really flat, then rallied to come back and race well. Both sides were a little complacent – not sure if that is where we are at in our training, or if the emotions of last week’s Senior Day were not sorted out. We always have a tough time this weekend during our training cycle, but both teams rallied to race well later in the meet.”
Straight from the Source – Diving Coach Bryan Gillooly:
- “Tennessee is always one of the best teams in the SEC and even the NCAA, so this meet came at the perfect time for us. With a couple of former NCAA Champions on the men’s side, Alex and Dalton stayed competitive throughout and that will pay off during SECs. Emma and Teya both continue to get better and even Brooke – who went first and second – still has room to improve. We are right where we want to be at this point: motivated and ready for conference and beyond.”
Up Next:
- The Gators return to action on Feb. 2-4 when they travel to the Auburn Invitational.
- This will be the last competition for Florida before the SEC Championships begin on Feb. 14.
PRESS RELEASE – TENNESSEE:
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee swimming and diving team concluded the regular season Friday with a split against Florida at Allan Jones Aquatic Center.
The Lady Vols (7-3) won 12 of 16 events en route to a 184-116 victory over No. 16 Florida.
In the men’s meet, No. 12 Tennessee (6-2-1) won three events — headlined by a diving sweep from Colin Zeng and Liam Stone — in a 178-122 loss to No. 4 Florida.
Sophomores Erika Brown and Meghan Small led the way with another two-victory meet for Tennessee. Brown won the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.74) and sparked a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 butterfly (52.31). Small took first the 200 butterfly (1:59.44) and the 200 individual medley (1:59.94).
Junior Madeline Banic picked up her first victory in her second meet of the season. She led a 1-2-3 Tennessee finish in the 50 freestyle, which she won in 22.77.
Additional victories for the women included: Tjasa Pintar in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.30), Stanzi Moseley in the 100 freestyle (49.11), Micah Bohon in the 200 backstroke (1:56.19), Tess Cieplucha in the 200 breaststroke (2:13.98) and Rachel Rubadue on 3-meter springboard.
The divers led the way for the Vols in the men’s meet. Zeng won the 1-meter springboard (397.88), followed by Stone. The two Vols reversed order on the 3-meter. Stone won on his own senior day with a score of 387.75, just 0.75 points ahead of Zeng. Will Hallam was third and Nick Rusek took fourth.
Tennessee swept both 200 medley relays to start the meet, and the Lady Vols also won the closing 400 freestyle relay.
SENIORS HONORED: Tennessee has nine seniors on the roster, six men and three women, who were honored prior to the meet. Senior men include: Ryan Coetzee, David Heron, Austin Hirstein, Sam McHugh, Peter John Stevens and Liam Stone. The three Lady Vol seniors include: Katie Armitage, Micah Bohon and Alex Cleveland.
QUOTES
Tennessee head coach Matt Kredich:
(On the women’s meet)
“We didn’t show any weakness. We were strong across all our events. We raced well. We had people rising to the occasion who haven’t necessarily done so yet. We had people who struggled the last few weeks have outstanding swims. We’ve got some good momentum to carry into SECs.”
(On the men’s meet)
“One thing I saw from our men that was impressive was that we got behind in a few races, and there was a noticeable surge, especially in the second half of some 200s, that we haven’t necessarily seen. Our competitiveness was uniformly very high. We competed well. We didn’t have quite the presence I’d hoped we had in a couple of the really close races, but we certainly didn’t give up. We actually gave ourselves a chance to win races that I think two or three meets ago that wouldn’t have happened. Florida holds us to a high standards, and they were outstanding today.”
Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington:
“Liam getting a big win on 3-meter in a close contest. He did a good job on 1-meter as well. He was 80 or so points better than he did a week ago at Georgia, which was a big highlight. He was showing some really good signs and looking like himself. He’s getting his takeoffs. His strength looks great. He’s higher in the air. He’s moving faster. All of a sudden, it’s different than what he’s been dealing with all year. Now he’s adjusting the finishes, and we have a couple weeks to work on that before SECs. Colin was solid today. Another great highlight was Will Hallam going 370 on 3-meter. That was a big, big step.
“It was a good win by Rachel on 3-meter against a really good Florida diver. Rachel was second on 1-meter and Ana (Hernandez) stepped up after a disappointing 3-meter, jumping up to third. Keegan (Richardson) dove exhibition on platform and had a zone qualifying score. That was huge for him because he’s been close two or three times. We had a lot of positives today. Emily (Pelletier) was back in competition. She and Sean (Meyers) are diving better.”
I think Decoursey also split an 18.9 on the Vols’ 200 medley relay
Yeah, and more impressively, he held off Dressel when he only had a lead of .14
HE was also running him down in the 50!
Side question: So if Texas wins the title this year, will they then stand alone as the most winningest team in D1 history? (currently tied with MI for 12 titles I think…)
Yes.
Texas has 13 titles in the ‘team championship era, where an official team championship was awarded at a single championship meet that everyone attended, making the champion obvious and objective. Michigan has 12 such titles, and Ohio State has 11.
As was the case in many sports in the early days of the NCAA, from 1924-1936 there were ‘unofficial’ team championships awarded by newspapers. The NCAA calls those unofficial. This is a more hotly-debated topic in a sport like football (where there were sometimes multiple champions declared) than it is in swimming (where nobody seems to care as much about those early days). Michigan claims 7 of those titles (there were various meets like the Intercollegiate Swimming Association finals, which… Read more »
Michigan does that sort of thing. They still claim a national championship in football and ignore the fact that the polls split the title (they don’t like the “Co-” aspect of it).
Football is an even more unique case, because the NCAA even now doesn’t actually recognize a national champion. The College Football Playoff does, but unlike swimming, no football team in history can ever claim to be “NCAA national champions.” For example, my alma mater, Texas A&M, claims 3 national championships – 1919, they went 10-0-0 and didn’t give up a single point, and were awarded a retroactive title by a bunch of groups, but others also give it to Notre Dame and Harvard. A&M also claims 1927 and 1939 (AP poll).
I’m roiled in an internal debate on this question: assume Dressel does the expected & wins 3 individual NCAA titles again this spring, who is the greatest male NCAA swimmer since 1980s? That’s my frame of reference & my final candidates are:
Ryk Neethling
Pablo Morales
Caleb Dressel
Interested in what everyone’s thoughts are here.
lochte was good
He was, and Lochte was particularly spectacular with records.
But consider that Pablo lost 1 individual NCAA race in his 4 years. ONE.
How about Murphy?!?!
Gotta put Lochte in there. NCAA record holder in the 100/200 back, 200/400 IM; NCAA Champion in both IMs, the 200 back, 2nd in the 100 back, 9th in the 200 fly, and 8th in the 1650 free. He was the SEC Champion in the 100/200 fly, 100/200 back, 200/400 IM and the mile.
Best in terms of in terms results is Morales. In terms of lifting the entire team to new heights has to be Dressel or Lochte.
Biondi was always my favorite. Records lasted a while
Pablo’s 11 individual titles in his career are an all-time record. Arthur Wojdat is underrated – still the only guy to win the 500 free title all 4 years of college, plus his times were unreal for the era (4:15.6 won the year before he got to Iowa, then he went 4:12-4:13-4:12-4:12, the year after he left 4:15 won).
Lochte has to be in the discussion, as does Neethling.
Breaststrokers are always the hard ones to quantify. Because breaststroke is relatively specialized as compared t othe other 3 strokes, the numbers aren’t ever going to be as gaudy. Lundquist or Hansen or Cordes should get some consideration on those grounds. Both crushed records, elevated the stroke.
How do athletes like Dressel keep remain mentally “stable” with all the pressure and expectations that we put on him? Stable is not the best word here, but I could imagine if I were in a similar situation I would be constantly nervous and losing sleep…lol
Maybe this is his biggest motivator, and when articles like these get posted, he stands tall walking into practice and completely destroys it.
Or maybe he just doesn’t read SwimSwam and other forms of media.
By knowing there’s more to life than jumping into a pool and flailing around in it
I think they just dont read SwimSwam.
He almost quit in high school because of the expectations and pressure. My understanding is he has learned to take his time away from the pool very seriously. There was an article about it somewhere a couple years back.
steve jungbluth talks about how he lets dressel go back home for some weekends to go let his mind reset and when dressel needs a break Steve will give it to him
He plays the drums
Jesus
I want to see him swim the 200 free and 200 IM. I’d say those are two of the most prestigious events in swimming… carries more of a sense of being a swimmer. The greatest multi-talented swimmers all seem to gravitate towards those events in some way: I’m thinking of Hagino, Phelps, Les Clos, Lochte, Guy, Kalisz, Cseh, Hozzu, Thorpe, Ledecky, Sjostrom…
Dressel seems motivated to make a name for himself as a swimmer not just a speed person. i feel like expanding his range is a great way to keep him motivated after his incredible 2017 to get better overall, and not just getting complacent with his accomplishments. I feel hopeful that we might get to see some 200s!… Read more »
Love the lineup – except have him go free on the 200 MR so that he can go something absurd like 17.4
We won’t see it anytime soon, but I wanna see a 200 fly. Watch the 49.8 again. Soooo smooth of a stroke. I wanna see a 1:35 and 1:49!!!
I saw it last UF dual meet, but Guarente looks to be the missing piece to UF’s medleys, putting Dressel on free. Wonder why he wasn’t on the A for this one, they woulda won it.
And he’s got a scoring worthy 200! NCs is gonna be crazy. If Florida is better than 3rd it will be cause Texas slips. I think we keep forgetting how good NC State will be too. Could anyone possibly imagine Texas getting 4th???
Good swim out of Decoursey!
That is one good kid! I can recall watching him try to break :30 in high school! Still in disbelief to what he can do now!
He’s just been biding his time out of the limelight of the other elite sprinters. Same with Becker at Minnesota. Both consistently getting better and the lynchpin of their teams’ success.
Anyone else kind of freaking out that Dressel beat Peter John Stevens, who got the silver in the 50m breast behind Adam Peaty at 2016 Euro Champs, in a BREASTSTROKE RACE? If there weren’t event limits, Dressel could realistically medal/win the 50/100/200 free, 100 fly, 200 IM, and 100 breast!
He could really post a good time in IM Long course. I hope he swims it sometime at a pro series. Would also love to see him break 1:00 in breast.
I know–insane! He could probably make the top 5 at NCAAs swimming as his own team.
I wouldn’t put it past his capability to break the AR in the 100 breast lcm
The kid is good but… I would.
I’m not gonna put any boundaries on Dressel after what happened last summer. He went in as a 52 second flyer and came out as the 2nd fastest man in history
Worth nothing Stevens hasn’t exactly been rocking 100s for the past 12 months – He failed to break 1.03 at worlds.
I was gonna be the guy that comes in here and poo-poos all this speculation – “Dressel isn’t a long course breaststroker” – but I mean, pretty sure he could do whatever at this point.
He certainly has a nice looking breastroke, and it looks pretty transferable to LCM too.
You get sprinters who can bust a super SCM/SCY breaststoker with brute strength, then it falls apart LC when the 25m wall doesn’t arrive. Based on a few videos, Dressel’s looks a far more balanced stroke, and far less rushed than your average part time breaststroker.
It’s his back that looks in need of a little work.