COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Florida men’s swimming team did not match the women’s swimming team’s overall NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championship Sunday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion of Ohio State University.
But Gregg Troy’s team, which finished fifth with a school-record 364 points behind eventual champion Texas (500), will come back to three individual championships, two of them by the National Men’s Swimmer of the Year, junior freestyler Conor Dwyer of Winnetka, Ill.
Dwyer, who won the 500-meter freestyle on Friday and the 200-meter freestyle on Saturday, failed in his attempt to win the 100-meter freestyle Sunday. But his two victories were enough to capture the overall honor on a day when teammate Shaune Fraser of Grand Cayman won the 200-yard butterfly.
Florida finished behind Texas, California (469.5 points), Arizona (387) and Stanford (369), the seventh time in Troy’s tenure at Florida that the men have secured a two-five finish.
“We raced tough the whole way through to the very last relay,” Troy said. “We didn’t have as many bodies this year, but to come out and accumulate the most points ever for a Florida team in an NCAA meet is really an accomplishment. Our seniors – Shaune Fraser, Roberto Gomez, Omar Pinzon and Roland Rudolf – were absolutely outstanding. Conor was very deserving of National Men’s Swimmer of the Year, but Shaune also had a fantastic meet, finishing second in two races and first in the other, while all were major contributors in each of our relays. Our seniors have contributed four great years here at Florida, and even though we were a little short tonight, our entire coaching staff is very happy with the way they performed the whole way through.”
Eleven Gators had 38 All-America performances and shattered two Florida records in the process. Dwyer, Shaune Fraser and Brett Fraser led the way for the Gators with seven All-America honors throughout the three-day meet, contributing both as individuals and to the team’s relay efforts.
Shaune Fraser ended his career as a 27-time All-American, the most in Florida history. With his seven honors in Columbus, Fraser jumped Carlos Jayme (26) and Ryan Lochte (24) in the Florida record books to go out on top.
Just as Shaune Fraser’s 200-yard butterfly was a close race when he took the national title in 2009, the 2010 competition proved to be even closer. While Fraser was just edged by Georgia’s Mark Dylla in the event, a two-handed touch disqualification for Dylla resulted in a Fraser victory in the event after the senior swam a 1:41.45.
“You have to feel bad for (Mark) Dylla. He won the race and he’s a great competitor, we swim each other in the SEC each season,” Fraser said of the outcome. “On the other hand, with the disqualification situation, the points went towards Florida and that boosted us. It feels good to compete in such a close race again – it’s one of the races I won last year at NCAAs. Like last year, it was another great race that came right down to the last touch.”
Freshman Sebastien Rousseau of South Africa joined Fraser in the championship finals of the event, finishing sixth in the field after clocking a 1:43.33. Junior Joey Pedraza kicked off the final night of swimming for the Gators in the mile, clocking a 15:15.41, to finish 25th overall in the field.
The Gators’ backstroke corps, composed of senior Omar Pinzon of Colombia, freshman Marco Loughran of England and senior Roland Rudolf of Hungary finished fourth, eighth and 13th, respectively, in the 200-meter backstroke. After leading for the first 150 of the race, Pinzon was tracked down on the final 50 to touch in at 1:40.09, improving upon his 1:40.90 prelims finish. Loughran clocked a 1:41.37, while Rudolf finished fifth in the consolation final in 1:42.37.
Dwyer and Brett Fraser represented the Gators in consolation finals of the 100-yard freestyle, finishing 11th and 16th, respectively with times of 42.90 and 43.41.
The Florida 400-yard freestyle quartet of Brett Fraser, Dwyer, senior Roberto Gomez and Shaune Fraser closed out a successful meet with a fourth-place finish in a time of 2:51.36.
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
At McCorkle Aquatic Center, Columbus, Ohio
FINAL STANDINGS: 1. Texas, 500 points; 2. California, 469.5; 3. Arizona, 387; 4. Stanford, 369; 5. Florida, 364; 6. Auburn, 277.5; 7. Michigan, 204; 8. Georgia, 143; 9. Ohio State, 136.5; 10. Virginia, 123.
INDIVIDUAL HONOR: Conor Dwyer, National Men’s Swimmer of the Year.
RECORDS: 2 (500-yard freestyle: Conor Dwyer, 4:13.64; 800-yard freestyle relay: Shaune Fraser, Brett Fraser, Jeff Raymond, Conor Dwyer, 6:14.72).
ALL-AMERICA PERFORMANCES: 1. Conor Dwyer 7 (500 free, 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay, 200 free, 800 free relay, 100 free, 400 free relay); 2. Brett Fraser 7 (200 free relay, 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay, 200 free, 800 free relay, 100 free, 400 free relay); 3. Shaune Fraser 7 (200 free relay, 200 IM, 400 medley relay, 200 free, 800 free relay, 200 fly, 400 free relay); 4. Matt Norton 1 (200 free relay); 5. Roberto Gomez 2 (200 free relay, 400 free relay); 6. Omar Pinzon 5 (200 IM, 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay, 100 back, 200 back); 7. Balazs Gercsak 1 (500 free); 8. Marco Loughran 3 (200 medley relay, 100 back, 200 back); 9. Sebastien Rousseau 2 (400 IM, 200 fly); 10. Jeff Raymond 2 (200 free, 800 free relay); 11. Roland Rudolf 1 (200 back).