Florida sends 14 swimmers into a championship final after a successful opening session in Auburn.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – University of Florida women’s swimming produced a very successful opening session of the Auburn Fall Invitational on Wednesday morning, posting the top swim in all three events and placing 14 swimmers in the championship final at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
The Gators started the morning off with the top-three finishes in the opening event, led by Leah Braswell’s swim of 4:41.28. Tylor Mathieu (4:44.22) and Elise Bauer (4:44.76) would finish next to head into the championship final as the second and third seed.
Lain Shahboz will join the pair of Gators in the championship heat of the event with her fifth-place finish. Nikki Miller and Taylor Ault, who posted seventh and eighth-place nods after finishing .07 seconds apart, also qualified for the championship final to place six individuals in the top heat.
Bettina Boszormenyi (4:49.33) and Madison Kolessar (4:49.62) headline the consolation final, while being joined by Allie Piccirillo, Leah Degeorge and Liz Watts after the trio posted 13th, 14th and 15th place prelim swims.
Kathleen Golding posted the sixth-fastest time overall (4:46.43), but will not swim in any evening heat.
A pair of B-cuts in the second event of the morning led to Kathleen Golding (1:58.35) and Vanessa Pearl (1:58.32) earning the top two seeds in the 200 IM championship final.
Amanda Ray (2:02.78) leads a pack of Gators in the consolation final after a 12th-place finish in her first collegiate action. Three more Gators also qualified for the evening session as Rosie Zavaros (14th), Kenady Beil (15th), Adrianna Deboer (16th) will all join Ray in the heat.
Florida’s remaining four competitors in the event were Cecilia Porter (2:4.81), Ellie Hatton (2:05.90), Ellie Zweifel (2:08.75) and Carly Schwab (2:12.01).
The third and final event of the morning was highlighted by Talia Bates’ first-place finish in the 50 free with a B-cut swim of 22.59. Katie Mack finished just slightly behind her, touching in 22.63. Four more Gators- Kristine Balbuena (22.88), Chloe Grimme (23.09) Gabby Hillis (23.15) and Annette Schultz (23.25)- will join the top seeds in sprint event’s championship final.
The next wave of Gators will hit the water in the consolation heat, led by Chade Nersicio’s 10th-place seed swim of 23.34. Ria Malhotra (23.57) and Celi Guzman (23.84) will join the redshirt freshman in the second heat to wrap up individual Gator performances on Wednesday night.
What’s Next
Divers will take to the boards in 3-meter prelims and finals sessions, beginning at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday night’s prelim session is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET with the 200 free relay. The championship and consolation finals are set to follow before the 400 medley wraps 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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