Gator Country

Sarah Bateman added her name to the top of the Florida record books with a time of 21.89 in the 50-meter freestyle consolation round. / Gator Country by Tim Casey

It seems like Sarah Bateman can only outdo herself. Bateman was able to break the Florida record in the 200-meter freestyle relay by swimming her portion in 21.90. In the consolation round of the 50 freestyle, she put her name at the top of the Florida record books by clocking in at 21.89.

“It was great to finally go under 22 – I had been stuck there for a while, so to get under that marker felt really great,” Bateman said. “It hasn’t really set in that I swam my last 50 as a Gator yet, but as of now I’m looking forward to the rest of the meet.”

It was the third time in Florida’s history a swimmer has been under the 22 second mark. The only person to clock in at those times ... Bateman.

For day one, the Gators competed in three consolation finals, including both relay races. The Gators are currently in 13th place with 31 points.

“We’re a little disappointed with some of the swims that we had today – there were some highs and lows – you have those at pretty much every meet, however,” UF coach Gregg Troy said. “On the flip side there were also some very strong performances from our swimmers. Our relays swam the best that they have all year.”

In the 200 freestyle relay, the quartet of Bateman, Jamie Bohunicky, Kaitlin Frehling, and Teresa Crippen were able to place 12th by touching the wall at 1:29.09, the sixth-quickest time in Florida history. For the 400-meter medley relay Elizabeth Beisel, Hilda Luthersdottir, Crippen, and Bateman finished in 3:32.93.

Day two of the women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships will be on Friday with preliminaries at 11 a.m. CT and finals at 7 p.m. CT. The events on Friday are as follows: 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 800 freestyle relay and three-meter dive.

“We have to do a better job and work harder heading into tomorrow’s races,” Troy said. He continued by explaining that the Gators still have a lot of good swimming left.

Gator Country reporter Sara Ladwig can be reached at

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