Sherridon Dressel Goes Nation-Leading 100 Back as Florida Trounces Minnesota

MINNESOTA VS. FLORIDA

• October 11th, 2019
• Minneapolis, MN
• Results (also on Meet Mobile)

WOMEN’S MEET

• Florida 202, Minnesota 97
• Florida exhibitioned swimmers on the last two events

Sherridon Dressel has emerged as Florida’s backstroke star, and she’s never been so impressive in season. Last night, she went her fastest in-season 100 back ever, ripping a 52.21 to win by over two seconds. That isn’t that far off of her 51.80 that she went at NCAAs as a freshman. She’s only the second woman to break 53 seconds in the event this season (the first was Mizzou’s Haley Hynes at 52.82), and she now tops the national ranks which include several suited times.

Dressel completed the backstroke sweep with a 1:55.86 in the 200 ahead of Rosie Zavaros (1:56.45), then turned in a 53.88 to take the win in the 100 fly. Florida went a season-best 3:19.81 to win the 400 free relay, with Dressel leading off in a 49.44.

Florida dominated four of the five freestyle individual events last night. Leah Braswell unleashed a 9:49.24 to win the 1000 free by over ten seconds, then she was 4:50.57 to take the 500 free, leading a Gator 1-2-3 in both events. On the sprint side of things, Gabrielle Hillis took the 50 free (22.73), while freshman Talia Bates dropped a 50.19 to win the 100 free.

Minnesota had something to say in the 200 free, though, with freshman Jordan McGinty stepping up to take the win at 1:48.85 to knock off Florida’s Kelly Fertel (1:49.23) and freshman Gator Kathleen Golding (1:49.49). McGinty, right off the bat, is looking like a major name to watch for the Gophers — she also went 50.46 in the 100 free and 2:02.65 in the 200 IM, placing third and second, respectively.

McGinty came within six-tenths of her best time in all three of her individual events. She and fellow freshman Maggie Summit are new and badly needed talents for the Gopher sprint group; Summit was second in the 50 free (23.14) and fifth in the 100 free (51.17) tonight.

Lindsey Kozelsky was dominant for the Gophers in the breaststrokes, winning the 100 at 1:00.50 and the 200 at 2:12.83. In the 100, she led a 1-2 finish with freshman Grace Bennin (1:03.50).

Florida also won the 200 medley relay in 1:39.45, getting a huge 24.42 backstroke lead-0ff from Emma Ball. Diver Ashley McCool took the 1-meter (305.85) and 3-meter (338.40).

MEN’S MEET

• Florida 178.5, Minnesota 116.5
• Florida exhibitioned swimmers on the last two events

The men were led by sophomore Kieran Smith, who’s coming off of a great summer in long course. In the 200 free, the event where he broke out in the big pool in August, Smith earned the win with a 1:35.13, the #2 time in the country behind Cal’s Zheng Quah (1:34.91). Last year on Florida’s October 12th dual with LSU, Smith was 1:37.39.

Smith also went 44.07 to take the 100 free, and 1:47.27 in the 200 IM. In the 100 free, he came just .05 off of his lifetime best, while he’s a little under a second ahead of where he was in the 200 IM last fall. He was also tenths off of his 200 free yards best (last year, he really focused on IM and backstroke, so his 200 free best of 1:34.89 is from high school. He has split 1:31.64, though, at the 2019 NCAA Championships on a relay).

Senior Marco Guarante took wins in both breaststrokes, going 54.97 in the 100 and 2:02.05 in the 200, while sophomore Clark Beach swept the backstrokes (48.47 and 1:44.25). Minnesota’s Max McHugh, who suffered a shooting injury in his right thigh in July, was not present in his specialty breaststroke races.

Freshmen Eric Friese and Alfonso Mestre combined for three individual wins last night. Friese was 20.42 in the 50 free and 48.46 in the 100 fly, also contributing a 21.27 fly on Florida’s winning 200 medley relay (1:28.65). Mestre dropped three seconds off of his season-best and came less than two seconds off of his lifetime best to win the 500 free at 4:28.00 ahead of Robert Finke (4:28.23). Finke had done the 1000 earlier, where he won in 9:05.79 ahead of Florida freshmen Kevin Vargas (9:14.48) and Brennan Gravley (9:16.56). Gravley just did enough to finish ahead of Minnesota’s Cameron Kelley there (9:16.77).

Despite not having top swimmer McHugh racing, Minnesota had several impressive performances against a formidable Florida squad. Diver Jake Butler won the 1-meter with a score of 331.65, and the 3-meter at 383.55 as the Gophers went 1-2-3 in the 3-meter and 1-3-4 in the 1-meter.

Gopher freshman Gavin Olson made his mark in the backstrokes, touching second in the 100 (48.71) and the 200 (1:47.67). He was also 23.07 leading off Minnesota’s A 200 medley relay, which turned in a second-place time of 1:30.04. Tim Sates, a Minnesota junior, contributed a runner-up finish in the 200 free (1:37.93) and a third-place touch in the 100 free (45.01). Senior Matt Thomas tied for second in the 100 fly with Florida’s Isaac Davis (48.77).