Josh Liendo Tries On 200 Fly In Head-to-Head With Luca Urlando as Florida Sweeps Georgia

Florida vs. Georgia

• November 1, 2024
• Athens, GA
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Scores
  • Women: #4 Florida, 158 – #14 Georgia, 142
  • Men: #4 Florida, 172.5 – #10 Georgia, 127.5
• Full Results

Men’s Meet

On a September SwimSwam podcast episode, Liendo noted he might take on the 200 fly or 200 IM during a dual meet or mid-season invite during the 2024-25 campaign. He made good on that in Athens, treating fans to a battle between himself and Luca Urlando in the 200 fly, a U.S Olympian in the long-course edition of the event.

Liendo did not have a recorded official 200-yard fly swim, and his short-course meters best stands at 1:56.77 from 2018. Liendo was within a second of Urlando through the first 150 yards, but the piano fell on the final 50. He split 27.56 on the final 50 and took second in an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 1:43.51 behind Urlando’s winning 1:41.40.

The two faced off again in the 100 butterfly, with Urlando again coming out on top. The Georgia Bulldog led from start to finish, splitting 21.41/24.05 to win the event in 45.46, well ahead of Liendo’s 46.31.

After losing to Tampa, the defending NCAA DII champions, in a split-squad dual last week, Florida got back to its winning ways against Georgia. The Gators took down their SEC foes, 172.5 to 127.5. Julian Smith, 21, led the way for Florida, posting two individual event wins and contributing to both winning relays.

Smith won his two main events, the 100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle. He clocked 52.93 to win the 100 breaststroke, with Aleksas Savickas touching next in 54.08 to make it a 1-2 finish for Florida. He was back up in the 100 freestyle, swimming a 43.39 to beat Tomas Koski (43.77).

After Florida won the 200 medley relay with Jonny Marshall (22.13), Smith (23.93), Josh Liendo (20.32), and Ed Fullum-Huot (19.36), the same squad that set a U.S. Open record in the short-course meters edition to open the season—Georgia fired back by winning three straight events.

Jake Magahey won his first of three individual events on the day, taking the 1000 freestyle in 8:56.04. Koski dominated the 200 freestyle, clocking 1:34.48 to beat Jake Mitchell’s 1:36.00 second-place effort. Then, Wesley Ng swam 46.89 in the 100 backstroke, winning by almost a second over Marshall.

Magahey collected the other two event wins for the home squad, first completing his distance event sweep with a win in the 500 freestyle (4:19.77), then claiming the 400 IM (3:49.30).

It was a solid meet for the Bulldogs, but they could not handle Florida’s depth, highlighted by a 1-2-3 sweep in the 50 freestyle, led by Fullum-Huot (19.78). Savickas led a 1-2 finish for Florida in the 200 breast (1:58.47), and multi-time Junior Pan Pacs champion Aiden Norman won the 200 back (1:44.48). Meanwhile, Peyton Donald and Conor Gesing won the boards.

Florida capped the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay, with Fullum-Huot (44.80), Smith (43.14), Liendo (42.29), and Alex Painter (43.43) swimming 2:53.66 to win by almost two seconds over Koski (43.77), Ruard van Renen (45.22), Urlando (42.86), and Cooper Cook (43.71).

Women’s Meet

The Florida women were without Bella Sims in Athens and disqualified their 400 freestyle ‘A’ relay with a false start but still overcame Georgia’s freestyle crew and earned a win, 158-142.

Sophomore Catie Choate and senior Emma Weyant were double-event winners for the Gators. Choate swept the backstrokes. First, she came from behind at the halfway point in the 100 backstroke to win by .02 over Eboni McCarty in an exciting finish, 52.82 to 52.84. Then, she dominated the 200 backstroke, winning in 1:54.86 while teammate Mabel Zavaros collected second place in 1:57.46.

After a third-place finish in the 200 free, Weyant, a two-time Olympic medalist, won the 200 breaststroke (2:14.50), leading a 1-2-3 sweep for the Gators. She was back up in the 400 IM, the last individual race of the meet, leading another 1-2 finish for Florida and winning by almost five seconds (4:08.90).

Florida swept the boards and the 100/200 backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Choate earned both backstroke wins, Molly Mayne (100 breast, 1:02.85) and Weyant split the breaststrokes, and Olivia Peoples and Julia Heimstead split the butterfly events. Peoples picked up the win in the 100 fly, where she is the reigning SEC champion, with a 53.20 in another 1-2 finish for Florida. They did one better in the 200 fly, sweeping the top three spots as the transfer Heimstead won in 1:59.09.

The University of Florida has earned a reputation on the national scene for being “Freestyle University.” But at the NCAA level, it may be the Georgia women who have claimed that crown. The Bulldogs swept the freestyle events, going at least 1-2 in each event.

2023 500 freestyle SEC champion Rachel Stege swept the distance events. In the 1000 freestyle, her first event, Stege beat reigning NCAA 1650 freestyle champion Abby McCulloh with a 9:39.22. The pair finished in the same order in the 500 freestyle, with Stege winning in 4:44.35 and McCulloh taking second in 4:47.13.

ASU transfer Ieva Maluka continues to be a valuable pick-up for the Dawgs as she once again picked up the win in the 200 freestyle (1:46.55), holding off teammate Sloane Reinstein. Helena Jones, Reinstein, and Katie Belle Sikes went 1-2-3 in the 100 freestyle, with Jones out-splitting Reinstein on the second 50, 25.16 to 25.57, to win in 49.38.

Sikes led a 1-2-3-4 finish for Georgia in the 50 freestyle—an interesting change of pace for the freestyle crew as mid-distance freestyle is usually their strongest events. Sikes, a freshman, won the 50 freestyle in 22.95, followed by Jones (22.99), McCarty (23.04), and Julianna Stephens (23.10).

Thanks to the Florida ‘A’ relay disqualification, Georgia also went 1-2 in the 400 freestyle relay. Their team of Jones (49.69), Stege (49.68), Reinstein (49.23), and Maluka (49.39) won in 3:17.99.

Up Next

Next weekend, Georgia hosts NC State for a two-day affair which is also their “Swimpalooza” event. Florida is off until Nov. 20, when they return to Athens for the mid-season Georgia Invitational, which they swept in 2023.