Seventeen University of Florida swimmers competed on remarkable platforms Thursday afternoon at both the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, and at the Phillips 66 National Championships in San Antonio.
At the World Championships in Kazan, Ryan Lochte headlined Florida’s events with a dominating performance in the 200-meter IM (1:55.81). The five-time American Gold medalist made history by winning the event for the fourth consecutive year and was joined in the finals by fellow Gator alums Dan Wallace (4th, 1:57.59), Conor Dwyer (5th, 1:57.96) and Marcin Cieslak (6th, 1:58.14).
Hilda Luthersdottir also had a strong showing in the 200-meter breaststroke preliminary session, finishing third in the event with a time of 2:23.54. Luthersdottir tied-for-eighth in the semi-finals (2:23.06) and was eliminated from competition following a swim-off against China’s Shi Jinglin.
Senior Corey Main took part in Thursday’s competition, swimming in the 200-meter backstroke. Main, a product of Auckland, New Zealand, finished 14th in the preliminary sessions after touching out at the 1:58.22 mark. Later in the finals, Main finished 16th-overall coming in with a time of 1:59.50.
At the Phillips 66 National Championships in San Antonio, 11 gators competed in Day One competition throughout 12 separate races. Three of those Gators — Arthur Frayler, Ashlee Linn and Caeleb Dressel — collected top-30 finishes during their respective events.
Linn and Dressel each grabbed a 27th-place finish; Linn in the 200-meter IM (2:16.49) and Dressel in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:02.26). Frayler took part in the 400-meter freestyle, touching out with a time of 3:56.37 for 29th-place.
Complete Day One Results from the Phillips 66 National Championships
| Name | Event | Time | Place |
| Natalie Hinds | 100 Fly | 1:01.33 | 55th |
| Nicholas Alexiou | 400 Free | 3:58.14 | 42nd |
| Andrew Brady | 400 Free | 4:04.65 | 78th |
| Arthur Frayler | 400 Free | 3:56.37 | 29th |
| Austin Manganiello | 400 Free | 4:00.19 | 53rd |
| Hannah Burns | 200 IM | 2:20.78 | 67th |
| Georgia-Mae Hohmann | 200 IM | 2:19.54 | 65th |
| Ashlee Linn | 200 IM | 2:16.49 | 27th |
| Caeleb Dressel | 100 Breast | 1:02.26 | 27th |
| Taylor Katz | 400 Free | 4:16.90 | 38th |
| Arthur Frayler | 400 IM | 4:28.26 | 48th |
| Mark Szaranek | 400 IM | 4:26.28 | 37th |
Swimming news courtesy of Florida Swimming & Diving.
Better watch out. There is a segment of the readership on this site that think college swimming is a waste of time and anyone that competes collegiately is doomed to a lousy Long Course career.