Indiana Men, Texas Women Top Tri-Meet with Florida

FLORIDA VS. TEXAS VS. INDIANA

• Results
• Hosted by Florida
• Friday, October 20th-Saturday, October 21st
• 25 Yards
• Dual Meet Format
• Day 1 Recap

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

The tri-meet in Gainesville concluded on Saturday, with the Indiana men and Texas women bringing home 2 wins each. On the men’s side, Florida split with a loss to Indiana and a win over Texas. The Indiana women split as well, losing to Texas but beating Florida.

• MEN: Indiana 264, Texas 165
• MEN: Indiana 242, Florida 187
• MEN: Florida 258, Texas 171
• WOMEN: Texas 226.5, Indiana 200
• WOMEN: Texas 290.5, Florida 136.5
• WOMEN: Indiana 251, Florida 178

Indiana’s Blake Pieroni pulled off the 100/200 free double again today after winning both of those races on day 1. In the 200 free, he went up against Florida’s Khader Baqlah, a Jordanian Olympian, with under 4 tenths separating the 2 men at the finish. Pieroni took the early lead by over half a second, flipping in 45.93. Baqlah started to make a move on the back half, but Pieroni held on to win in 1:35.17 to Baqlah’s 1:35.56. He returned for his 2nd victory in the 100 free, going head-to-head with Florida’s sprint champion Caeleb Dressel. Pieroni held a slight lead from start to finish, edging out Dressel 43.53 to 43.86.

Dressel picked up a win of his own in the 50 free, touching in 19.82 ahead of Indiana sprint star Ali Khalafalla (20.05). He also contributed a 19.26 split on the 3rd leg of Florida’s 200 free relay. Teammate Jan Switkowski added another win for the Gators in the 200 fly, outpacing IU’s Vini Lanza to win it with a 1:45.24 to Lanza’s 1:46.22.

Ian Finnerty continued his dominant performance in the breaststrokes for the Hoosiers. In the 200 breast, he was the only man to break 2:00, turning in a 1:59.50 to sweep the breaststrokes. Florida’s Marco Guarente wound up 2nd in 2:01.94 after chasing down Indiana freshman Matthew Jerden (2:02.04) on the back half.

After sitting out the 2016-17 season, Ryan Harty is back in action for the Longhorns. He picked up a win in the 200 back today, outpacing All-American teammate Jonathan Roberts. He trailed Roberts at the halfway point, 52.35 to 52.57, but roared home in 52.36 to negative split the race and take the win in 1:44.93. Roberts was 2nd in 1:45.69, followed by Florida’s Clark Beach (1:46.82).

Notably absent today was Joseph Schooling, who swam the breaststroke leg of Texas’ 200 medley relay yesterday. Individually, he topped Dressel and IU’s Lanza in the 100 fly and placed 9th in the 100 breast on Friday. He didn’t compete in any individual races or on either relay during today’s session.

Texas backstrokers Claire Adams and Quinn Carrozza put together one of the closest races of the meet on the women’s side with their performance in the 200 back. Carroza led at the halfway point, flipping in 56.64 to Adams’ 56.90. She narrowly held on to her lead through the 150, but Adams was able to push ahead on the final 50, out-touching Carrozza 1:56.04 to 1:56.08 for a Longhorn 1-2 finish. Indiana’s Kennedy Goss, who won the 200 free (1:47.88) earlier, finished 3rd behind them in 1:58.17.

Longhorn distance star Joanna Evans added another distance free victory to her accomplishments this weekend. After their battle in the 1000 free and 500 free yesterday, she and Florida’s Taylor Ault returned to battle in the 500 free again. Ault trailed Evans closely through the first 300 yards, with just half a second separating them. Evans started to kick into gear with a 200 to go, breaking ahead to win in 4:47.27 ahead of Ault’s 4:48.47.

Indiana’s Ally Rockett pitched in with a win for the Hoosier women. She was stroke-for-stroke with Texas’ Anelise Diener in the 50 free, getting her hand to the wall first with a 23.34. Diener took 2nd in 23.45, while Texas’ Remedy Rule (23.56) and Indiana’s Grace Haskett (23.56) tied for 3rd. Rule went on to take 2nd in the 200 fly later in the session, coming up short by a fingernail to Indiana’s Shelby Koontz (1:59.05) with her 1:59.11.