The women’s 200 medley relay team’s 1:34.76 set a school record
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 5/6 Florida men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams put on a show during the opening night of the 2023 SEC Championships. The Gators medaled in all four relay events.
In the first race of the night and championships, Florida’s 200 medley relay team of Aris Runnels, Nina Kucheran, Olivia Peoples, and Katie Mack came into the race in lane eight, the final qualifying spot for the second heat of the finals, but left the pool with a school record time of 1:34.76, the only time in Florida history to be sub 1:35.00.The Gators collected silver, tallying the first of four medals for the orange and blue.
Florida’s 200 medley relay team missed out on gold by .30 of a second, touching the wall in 1:21.73, which is the second-fastest time in SEC Championships history, only behind Tennessee’s 1:21.43 from tonight. Adam Chaney, Aleksas Savickas, Eric Friese, and Joshua Liendo now have the second-fastest 200 medley time in program history, only behind the NCAA record of 1:21.13 that the Gators set at last year’s NCAA Championships.
Coming into the 800 free relays, Florida had the top qualifying times in both the men’s (6:14.73) and women’s (7:00.75). They left the pool the same way.
On the women’s side, the team of Ekaterina Nikonova, Talia Bates, Emma Weyant, and Micayla Cronk swam a 6:57.11, the third-fastest time in program history and the first conference title of the week for the Gators.
The men glided to a lead and never looked back, thanks to Jake Mitchell’s anchor split of 1:31.45 to secure gold. Macguire McDuff, Julian Smith, Alfonso Mestre, and Mitchell all set a pool record with a 6:08.64, just under four seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
“Really proud of the effort we showed on night one, head coach Anthony Nesty said. “All four relay teams put out a great showing, including a school record from our women’s 200 medley and a pool records by your men’s 800 free relay team. Excited to see what we do for the rest of the week, we just have to continue to work hard and continue the Gator standard.”
During the men’s 1-meter diving prelims, Leonardo Garcia placed 11th, scoring a 289.95 to contribute points for Florida. Anton Svirskyi finished in 23rd following a 252.95, while Skip Donald’s 248.70 slotted him at 26th.
In the women’s 3-meter prelims, Carina Lumia turned in a score of 283.80 for an 11th place finish, just ahead of Maha Amer’s 276.85 and 13th place finish to score the first points for the women’s team. Elettra Neroni battled to a 29th place at 226.60.
Following the opening day, the Florida women sit in second with 150 points, while the men are in fourth at 138 points.
Day two of the 2023 SEC Championships will begin at 10:30 a.m.(ET) with prelims of the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free before the women’s 1-meter diving prelims at 1 p.m. (ET). The finals are slated for 6:30 p.m. (ET). All action can be watched on SEC Network +.
TEAM SCORES AFTER DAY ONE
Men:
1. Texas A&M – 229
2. Auburn – 166
3. Tennessee – 159
4. Florida – 138
5. Missouri – 126
6. South Carolina – 115
7. Georgia – 113
8. Alabama – 107
9. Kentucky – 86
10. LSU – 65
Women
1. LSU – 178
2. Florida – 150
3. Kentucky – 149
4. South Carolina – 142
5. Tennessee – 136
6. Alabama – 131
7. Auburn – 119
8. Georgia – 107
9. Missouri – 105
10. Arkansas – 97
11. Vanderbilt – 62
12. Texas A&M – 56
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