Swim & Dive Teams Sweep Florida State

Tuesday, November 11

Gainesville, FL

5:00 PM

Florida Gators

Florida State

Swim & Dive Teams Sweep Florida State

Wednesday, November 12, 2003 | Women's Swimming & Diving

The No. 2 University of Florida women's swimming and diving team won 10 of 13 events, while the sixth-ranked men's team won nine of 13 events as each defeated in-state rival Florida State in dual meets Tuesday evening at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.

The women's team (5-0) stayed undefeated by collecting eight NCAA provisional qualifying times in defeating No. 20 Florida State (8-2) for the 33rd straight time by a score of 132.50-104.50. The Gators have never lost to the Seminoles in a dual meet. Senior Nicole Bolt (Orlando, Fla.) and freshman Leah Retrum (Columbus, Ind.) led the way by claiming two individual event wins apiece.

On the men's side, Florida (2-1) won its seventh straight dual against Florida State (4-2) by a score of 146-97. The Gators have now won 45 of the 67 meetings in the series and have won 21 of the last 22. Senior Chris Kellam (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.), junior Zach Wilcox (Yarrow Point, Wash.) and sophomore Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) each won a pair of events to lead Florida.

Bolt took top honors in the meet in both diving events, winning the three-meter with a score of 319.05 and the one-meter with a sum of 276.68, while Retrum won the 200-yard backstroke with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 2:01.04 and the 1,000-yard free (9:56.54).

The Gators took the top four spots in the 500-yard freestyle with sophomore Mary Uhle (Sankt Ingbert, Germany) winning the event (4:49.82) with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Florida finished 1-2-3 in the 200-yard freestyle as sophomore Maureen Farrell (Northridge, Calif.) (1:49.55), senior Chantal Gibney (Dublin, Ireland) (1:50.52) and freshman Brittany Johnson (Winston Salem, N.C.) (1:50.61) each posting NCAA provisional qualifying times.

Florida also finished in the top three spots in the 200-yard breaststroke, which was won by junior Katie Kennedy (Ft. Myers, Fla.) with a time of 2:19.80. Senior Sara McLarty (Deland, Fla.) won the 200-yard butterfly with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 2:00.12, while freshman Ashley Carusone (Gainesville, Fla.) (2:02.24) and Katie McCann (Walpole, Mass.) (2:04.27) finished 1-2 in the 200-yard individual medley with NCAA provisional times.

The women's team also won the final event of the evening as junior Meredith Green (Chapel Hill, N.C.), junior Rebecca Harper (Richmond, Va.), Retrum and Johnson finished first in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:25.10).

Lochte and Wilcox remained undefeated for the men on the season in individual events as Lochte won the 1,000-yard free (9:02.24) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:05.50), while Wilcox placed first in both the three-meter (339.38) and the one-meter (327.15) diving events.

Kellam recorded wins in the 200-yard freestyle (1:40.99) and the 200-yard butterfly (1:51.95). Junior Gabriel Mangabeira (Piratininga, Brazil) placed first in the 200-yard individual medley (1:54.61) as the Gators took the top six spots.

Junior Kris Wiebeck (Tampa, Fla.) finished first in the 500-yard freestyle, while the men's team also won the first swimming event of the night in the 400-yard medley relay. Mangabeira, junior Corey Welch (Larksville, Pa.), junior Adam Sioui (Ontario, Canada) and sophomore Brian Hartley (Indianapolis, Ind.) won with a time of 3:23.34.

Both squads return to action when the Gators travel to Georgia Nov. 13 with the dual meets set to start at 4 p.m. The following evening the Gators are at South Carolina for a meet with a start time of 5 p.m.

Women's Team Scores

Florida - 132.5

Florida State - 104.5

Men's Team Scores

Florida - 146

Florida State - 97

Florida Winners Only

WOMEN'S

1000-Yard Free

Leah Retrum, 9:56.54

200-Yard Free

Maureen Farrell, 1:49.55

200-Yard IM

Ashley Carusone, 2:02.24