Florida Rolls to 9 Wins in 10 Races on Day 1 of All-Florida Invite

The Florida women jumped out to a 101-point lead early after 1 day of the 2014 All-Florida Invite by winning four of the first five events, while the Florida Men took an even bigger lead over the Florida State men in their scoring with a five-for-five sweep.

Team scores after Day 1 (of 3):

Women

1. Florida – 346
2. Cal – 245
3. Florida Gulf Coast – 201
4. Florida State – 195
5. Miami – 124
6. Nova Southeastern – 49
7. North Florida – 34

Men

1. Florida – 404
2. Florida State – 277
3. Nova Southeastern – 201

Women’s Meet

The Florida women opened the day by winning the 200 free relay in 1:30.69 – topping Cal by over 1.3 seconds (1:32.02).

The four swimmers on the winning relay were Sinead Russell (23.31), Natalie Hinds (22.03), Lindsey McKnight (22.52), and Ashlee Linn (22.83). Outside of Hinds, this Florida relay isn’t necessarily an obvious one, but they return three of the four legs from the relay that won the B-Final – and was 5th-best overall at NCAA’s – last year. McKnight will be the key to this relay, just as she will on the Florida medley relays, and so far she’s risen to the challenge.

Other impressive splits include a 22.09 from Cal anchor Farida Osman, a 22.03 from Florida Gulf Coast anchor Emma Svensson (relay 3rd, 1:32.91), and a 22.36 from Florida State second leg Kaitlyn Dressel (relay 4th – 1:33.14).

In the next women’s event, British import Jess Thielmann gave the Florida women win number two by improving five seconds from prelims in the women’s 500 free. He 4:47.82 in finals was roughly nine seconds faster than she was at this same meet last season.

Cal’s Cierra Runge swam a 4:50.38 for 2nd. She was the top seed coming out of prelims, and dropped just over a second-and-a-half in finals. Florida’s Megan Rankin was 3rd in 4:51.61, and Liz Pelton was 4th in 4:54.24.

In this meet format that only allows two swimmers into the A-Final, there were some really good B-Final swims as well. McKnight, in another indication that she’s ready to become a star for the Florida team this year, was 9th overall in 4:51.38 (the 3rd-best time), and Catherine Breed was 10th in 4:52.13.

Celina Li broke the Gator run in the women’s 200 IM, which she won in 1:58.81. That’s an NCAA “B” time standard and the first swimmer under two minutes in the country this year.

Also sneaking under two minutes was her teammate Liz Pelton in 1:59.03 for 2nd. Thatbattle went about as expected, with Li jumping out to a lead in her best stroke, the fly, and Pelton closing on both the backstroke and freestyle legs. Both swimmers’ weakest leg is the breaststroke.

That’s where Florida’s McKnight is at her best, and she took 3rd in 2:01.76. She made up a full second on the breaststroke leg alone, but gave that back on the freestyle leg.

Missy Franklin, again looking the best she’s looked this season, was a 1:59.43 to win the B-Final. She had the fastest split of the field on the backstroke leg.

That was the only time (men or women) that anybody wound up in 1st besides a Gator on Friday night. Natalie Hinds rounded out the individual scoring in 22.44, beating out FGCU’s Svensson (22.97) and Florida State’s Dressel (23.12).

Sinead Russell (23.17) and Missy Franklin (23.20) rounded out the top 5 in that race.

The day ended with the 400 medley relay, where the home team again won, swimming a 3:41.26. That relay was the same four swimmers as the 200 free relay, with Sinead Russell (back – 54.14), Lindsey McKnight (1:02.32), Natalie Hinds (54.06), and Ashlee Linn (50.74)  combining for the win.

That’s an indicator of where this Florida team is this season. It’s not as deep of a team as they’ve had in the past, but it’s a very efficient team. The fact that the Gators could put out the same four swimmers for all four relays 400 yards or shorter at this meet is incredibly rare at the college level, but this team has exactly the right group to do it. That also leaves them with a thin margin for error come SEC’s and NCAA’s, though.

Cal was 2nd in 3:42.70. Canadian freshman Noemie Thomas has officially taken over the butterfly leg for the outgoing transfer Sophia Batchelor, and she split a splendid 53.38. That was the only split of the field better than 54 seconds – except for her teammate Celina Li, who was 53.99 on Cal’s B relay.

Cal didn’t use Missy Franklin on any of their relays. She swam a limited schedule at the team’s opening Queen of the Pool meet as well, so it seems as though Cal is still being a little careful as she’s recovering from back issues.

Florida State took 3rd in 3:43.26, with Dressel having another good split – anchoring in 48.97. She was only outdone by Svensson, who anchored Florida Gulf Coast (3:43.34) to 4th with a 48.90.

Svensson on this day swam well in her individuals, but in relays was at another level. That’s very important for the Eagles, who came within a hair of qualifying their first ever relay to NCAA’s last year, but missed. This season, that will be a big milestone if the program can achieve it.

Men’s Meet

The Florida men’s team out-did their women’s program, winning all five first day events – though against admittedly weaker competition.

The Gators won by a full second in the session-opening 200 free relay, including a 19.92 split from freshman Caeleb Dressel on the 2nd leg. The full relay of Corey Main (20.33), Dressel, Pawel Werner (20.07), and Jack Blyzinskyj (20.53) combined to swim 1:20.85. Even with the graduation of the program’s best sprinter Brad DeBorde, this relay was still only about six-tenths slower than Florida’s relay was at this meet last year.

In the first individual event of the day for the men, Mitch D’Arrigo swam a 4:24.67 which is a nation-leader and an NCAA “B” time. The rest of the field was at mid-pool when D’Arrigo finished, with his teammates Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (4:30.32) and Austin Manganiello (4:34.01) taking 2nd and 3rd.

Absent from this race for Florida were NCAA qualifier Arthur Frayler and NCAA runner-up Dan Wallace, neither of whom raced on Friday. Wallace was suspended “indefinitely” this summer after a run-in with local police, and is still under suspension according to a Florida spokesperson.

Solaeche-Gomez came back and won in the men’s 200 IM with a “B” time of his own, swimming a 1:47.58. That was part of another Florida 1-2-3, with Matt Elliott placing 2nd in 1:47.95 and freshman Mark Szaranek taking 3rd in 1:49.62.

Caeleb Dressel won the B-Final in 1:51.63.

Corey Main picked up a win in the men’s 50 free, swimming 20.30, but 26-year old freshman Thiago Sickert got some play for Division II Nova Southeastern by placing 2nd in 20.46.

Caeleb Dressel wasn’t able to match his prelims time and took 3rd in 20.53 – three-tenths slower. Florida State’s Jason McCormick was 4th in 20.68.

In the men’s 400 free relay, Florida was once again heavily reliant on their freshman class, but they swam well as the back-half of this relay. The team of Corey Main (48.29), Matt Elli0tt (54.13), Mark Szaranek (48.12), and Caeleb Dressel (44.36) combined for the win in 3:14.90.

Florida actually took the top two spots in this relay, with the B placing 2nd in 3:16.66. Christian-Paul Homer was a 47.52 on that B-relay, faster than Szaranek was on the A.

Florida State was 3rd in 3:21.27. Nova Southeastern placed 5th, including a 47.69 fly split from Sickert.

Full meet results available here. While no live results are available for this meet, we will be Tweeting pictures of results almost real-time on Saturday and Sunday.