Florida continued their dominance on day 3 of the All-Florida Invite, sweeping both the men’s and women’s meets, even though they did not capture as many event titles as they did on previous days.
The Gator women started off their meet with a 1-4 sweep in the mile, Alicia Mathieu leading the pack with a 16:37. Jessica Thielman and Jamie Bohunicky went 16:39 and 16:50 to place second and third.
Elizabeth Beisel, a 2012 Olympic medalist in this event, won the 200 back in a B cut of 1:56.2. Her teammate, Ashlee Linn also picked up a B cut with a time of 1:57.22. Sinead Russell was third in 2:00.
Florida State’s Tiffany Oliver came out on top in the 100 free, winning the event in a B cut time of 49.91, just two one-hundredths ahead of Gator freshman Natalie Hinds. Oliver’s teammate, Kaitlyn Dressel, was third with a 50.2.
The Gators faced defeat again in the 200 breast when Eszter Bucz of Florida Atlantic went 2:16.0 to beat Florida’s Rebecca Rainer.
FSU’s Elizabeth Pepper, a school record holder and Olympic Trials finalist in this event, won the 200 fly in a time of 2:02.3. This was one of the few events that saw a swimmer from three different schools in the top three: Anette Kovacs of Florida Atlantic was second and Florida’s Bohunicky was third.
In the final event of the night, the 400 free relay, Florida’s B team went 3:22.5 to beat their A’s 3:24.5. FSU was third with a 3:25.0, making the final score of the women’s meet 1141.5 for Florida, 763.5 for FSU and 596 for Florida Gulf Coast.
In the men’s mile, Florida took 7 of the top 8 spots, Derek Pridemore of FSU sneaking into eighth with a 16:04. Gator senior Jason Taylor won the event in 15:29, and teammates Arthur Frayler, Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez, Thomas Veale, Nicholas Caldwell, William Silva, and Adam Bull followed, taking the next six spots.
Florida sophomore Carlos Omana went 1:47.4 to lead a Gator sweep in the 200 back, with senior Olympian Sebastien Rousseau and Connor Signorin placing second and third.
Gator sprinter and school record holder Brad DeBorde won the 100 free in a time of 44.8 to touch out teammate Pawel Werner and FSU’s Paul Murray, who went 45.0 and 45.1, respectively.
Florida continued their reign in the 200 breaststroke when sophomore All-American Matt Elliot won in a time of 2:01.1. Ed Solaeche-Gomez of Florida and Alan Forbes of FSU were second and third.
In the penultimate event of the night, veteran Rousseau and teammate Martin Cieslak both picked up B cuts, going 1:46.4 and 1:47.2 to earn the top two spots in the 2oo fly. Signorin was third in 1:50.2.
Florida and FSU battled it out in the 400 free with Florida winning by just over a tenth, going 2:59.84 to FSU’s 2:59.97. The final results of the men’s meets were slightly closer, with Florida beating FSU 1273-919. Florida Atlantic was third with 559 points.
