14 Gators advanced to the championship heat after Wednesday’s prelim session.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida concluded the first prelims session at the Auburn Fall Invitational with the top seed in all three events, including the top-three times in two prelims. Overall, Florida will be represented by 14 competitors in the opening evening finals session at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center in Auburn, Ala. on Wednesday night.
The No. 3 Gators started off the morning by sweeping the top three spots in the 500 free, led by Kieran Smith and his A-cut effort of 4:11.08. Smith, who set the American record in the event last year at James E. Martin Aquatics Center at the SEC Championships, touched in the second-fastest time in the country this year, but will not swim in event final.
Trey Freeman (4:16.87) and Robert Finke (4:18.37) posted B-cuts to finish behind Smith in second and third. Alfonso Mestre continued his hot start to his sophomore campaign with a new personal-best in the distance event, good for fifth-place and the final B-cut for Florida in the opening event.
John VanDuesen and Page Advait also qualified for the championship heat with their prelim effort. VanDuesen would finish in seventh, while Page touched in a ninth-place with an effort of 4:26.14.
Caleb Kravitz cut off nine seconds from his time in the season opener against Georgia to qualify for the consolation final with a swim of 4:26.56. With 16th and 17th place finishes, Jace Crawford and Jorge Depassier will join Kravitz to conclude Florida competitors in the event.
The final trio of Gators finishers in the morning were Tyler Watson (4:29.30), Brendan Peacock (4:31.73) and Wesley Hyde (4:37.62).
Just like Smith, Brennan Gravley will not participate in the 500 free finals after posting the sixth-fastest time of 4:24.40.
Smith will swim in the 200 IM championship final as the top seed after posting fastest prelim swim in the field, touching in 1:46.46. Kevin Vargas finished exactly one second behind him to tally the second-best swim, while Miguel Cancel (fourth) and Dillon Hillis (fifth) earned A-qualifications after rounding out the top-five fastest swims.
The Gators will have two more competitors in the top heat after Dylan Brisco (1:48.31) and Mateusz Dubas (1:49.31) finished in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Gravley will swim in the consolation heat after finishing in 12th (1:51.44), while Ethan McCloud (1:51.51) joins him finishing just behind him in the prelims.
Amro Al-Wir (1:52.65) was Florida’s final competitor in the event.
UF posted its second top-three sweep in the 50 free with the trio of Eric Friese (19.74), Adam Chaney (19.81) and Will Davis (19.85) leading the way after securing B-cuts. Isaac Davis will join the group in the A-final with his sixth-place effort of 20.28.
Mitchell Meyer and Trevor McGovern will conclude the individual events on Wednesday evening in the consolation final as Meyer led the way in 13th-place with an effort of 20.70.
What’s Next
Men’s divers will compete in both the prelim and final session of the 1-meter, beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET. Wednesday night’s prelim session is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET with the 200 free relay, with the championship and consolation heats to follow. The 400 medley relay will wrap up the first day of competition.
Florida will be back in the water at 10:00 a.m. ET on Thursday with the 400 IM prelims.
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