The Gators came out on top Saturday afternoon in their SEC opener at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The University of Florida men’s swim & dive team emerged with a 185-115 over the LSU Tigers on Saturday.
Florida is undefeated in the pool against LSU in a total of 21 meets.
Men’s Swimming did exceptionally well in the 200 Free, 200 Fly and 200 IM.
Freshman Eduardo Solaeche (Madrid, Spain) captured first place in the 200 Free with a time of 1:40.14. Connor Signorin (East Windsor, N.J.) and Jason Taylor (Plant City, Fla.) were right behind Solaeche, finishing second and third with marks of 1:40.30 and 1:40.34. Dan Wallace (North Berwick, Scotland) took first in the 200 Fly with a time of 1:50.32. Cameron Martin (Clearwater, Fla.) finished second in 1:51.08, while Signorin finished third with a time of 1:52.22.
Carlos Omana (Miami, Fla.), Matt Curby (Oviedo, Fla.) and Brian Howell (Cincinnati, Ohio) captured first, second, and third in the men’s 200 IM. Omana completed the IM in 1:52.17, while Curby and Howell touched the wall at 1:54.07 and 1:54.13, respectively.
Brad deBorde (Longwood, Fla.) snagged first place in the 50 Free with a time of 20.73. Matt Elliott made the NCAA “B” cut with a first place finish in 100 Breast. His time was 54.69.
The men also took home both 400 Medley and 400 Free Relay titles. The relay team of Curby, Elliott, Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland) and deBorde defeated LSU in 3:19.14. Soleache, deBorde, James Turner (Ft. Pierce, FL) and Matt Norton (Port Orange, Fla.) pulled a narrow victory over LSU to capture first place in the 400 Free Relay. Their time was 3:02.06.
During the morning diving meet, senior Anthony Lewark (Davie, Fla.) scored 332.93 points in the one-meter event and 357.68 points in the three-meter event. Lewark took first place in men’s diving.
The Gators will travel this Thursday to compete against Arkansas, another SEC rival. The meet time is set for 6 p.m.
Gator Country reporter Sarah Samuels can be reached at ssamuels@gatorcountry.com