Indiana vs. Florida
- January 3, 2025
- Stephen C. O’Connell Heart — Gainesville, FL
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Closing Scores:
- Girls: #4 Florida, 164 def. #7 Indiana, 136
- Males: #2 Indiana, 163 def. #4 Florida, 137
- Full Outcomes: “UF vs. Indiana” on MeetMobile
The Florida Gators hosted the Indiana Hoosiers as they rang within the new yr, celebrating their graduating senior class earlier than the twin meet started. This competitors marks the primary of the second semester for each groups, and it’s a uncommon matchup. Based on the Gators’ communications crew, that is simply the fifth head-to-head matchup between the Gators and the Hoosiers. Notably, Indiana has taken on a tricky schedule this season; the crew has already confronted a high-powered Texas crew.
The swimming portion of the meet was divided into three sections by the diving occasions. The meet kicked off with the ladies’s 1-meter and males’s 3-meter. Then, after seven occasions, the ladies’s 3-meter competed. After 5 extra occasions, the boys’s 1-meter dove, then the meet concluded with the ultimate two occasions.
Indiana had a number of massive additions becoming a member of them for the second semester. Rafael Miroslaw returned to collegiate racing at this meet, and Matt King dove in for his first meet as a Hoosier. Nevertheless, the squad was with out Caspar Corbeau, who introduced he was returning to the NCAA and becoming a member of Indiana’s quest for an NCAA title final month. Fifth-year Adam Chaney stays on the Florida roster however didn’t race at this time and nonetheless hasn’t swum in an NCAA meet this season.
First Interval
Order of Occasions:
- 200 medley relay
- 1000 freestyle
- 200 freestyle
- 100 backstroke
- 100 breaststroke
- 200 butterfly
- 50 freestyle
The Gators began the meet robust, because the crew swept the ladies’s and males’s 200 medley relay and 1000 freestyle. The ladies’s ‘A’ medley relay of Catie Choate (25.09), Anita Bottazzo (28.00), Olivia Peoples (23.54), and Micayla Cronk (22.21) earned a slender win over Indiana’s ‘A’ relay of Kacey McKenna (25.35), Kabria Chapman (28.06), Miranda Grana (23.85), and Kristina Paegle (21.61). The Gators held a large lead on the ultimate change; Paegle, Indiana’s high sprinter, anchored in 21.61 however ran out of pool to chase down Cronk, and the Gators grabbed the opening win by three-hundredths, 1:38.84 to 1:38.87.
The Florida males had a much bigger margin of victory as Jonny Marshall (22.17), Julian Smith (23.63), Josh Liendo (20.11), and Alex Painter (19.49) logged 1:25.40 to win by .67 seconds over Indiana’s ‘A’ relay. Olympian Matt King obtained his first NCAA swim in an Indiana cap beneath his belt by anchoring the Hoosiers’ ‘A’ relay in 19.21.
The Gators’ distance group went to work within the 1000 freestyle. Sophomore Michaela Mattes pulled out one other shut win for the house crew, clocking 9:45.64 to complete forward of Indiana’s Mariah Denigan (9:46.04) and Ching Hwee Gan (9:46.32). The Florida males earned a 1-2-3-4 end within the males’s 1000 freestyle, led by Eric Brown’s 9:05.02. Freshman Luke Corey completed second, over a second behind Brown in 9:06.96.
Indiana struck again by sweeping the 200 freestyle. Olympian Anna Peplowski dominated the ladies’s race, clocking a 1:44.78 to beat her Olympic teammate Emma Weyant by 2.37 seconds. Weyant edged out Gator freshman Julie Brousseau for second place by a hundredth. Rafael Miroslaw earned a win in his return to racing for Indiana after spending the autumn time period on the World Cup circuit. He swam 1:34.33 for the win, additionally profitable by a large margin as he touched 3.09 seconds forward of Florida’s Jake Mitchell (1:37.42).
The 100 backstroke was the primary cut up occasion, as Florida obtained again within the win column on the ladies’s facet as sophomores Bella Sims (52.07) and Choate (53.40) notched a 1-2 end forward of Indiana’s Miranda Grana (53.50), who’s been a standout for the Hoosiers since transferring to Bloomington this fall. Her fellow switch, Owen McDonald, earned the win within the males’s 100 backstroke, roaring to a 46.99. He and Knedla (47.74) took first and second for Indiana, whereas Marshall joined the pair sub-48 with a 47.98 for third place.
Anita Bottazzo and Julian Smith had standout performances within the 100 breaststroke on the Georgia Fall Invitational. Bottazzo turned the third-fastest freshman within the occasion in her first SCY meet (57.49), whereas Smith broke Caeleb Dressel’s SEC report, swimming 49.98 and transferring to fourth-fastest in historical past. Each gained the 100 breaststroke at this twin, with Bottazzo swimming 1:00.63 and Smith 53.20. Bottazzo gained by 1.59 seconds, however Smith had a better race on his arms. He was first on the midway level, then held off robust closes from Hoosier grad college students Brian Benzing and Jassen Yep. Benzing grabbed second in 53.33, with Yep simply behind in 53.35.
The Florida ladies earned one other 1-2 end within the 200 fly, this time courtesy of Addison Reese (1:59.01) and Lainy Kruger (1:59.16). The race was one of many closest of the meet, as the highest 4 swimmers have been separated by .97 seconds. Anna Freed broke up the Gators’ get together by touching in 1:59.46, incomes third forward of Mabel Zavaros. Indiana earned its second win of the interval within the 50 freestyle, as Kristina Paegle soared forward of Cronk for the win in 22.34. Cronk swam 22.97 and was the one swimmer to affix Paegle beneath the 23-second mark.
In the meantime, on the boys’s facet, Florida closed out the interval with two occasion wins. Mason Laur claimed the 200 butterfly for Florida forward of a 2-3-4 end from the Hoosiers. Liendo dominated the 50 freestyle, stopping the clock at 19.32. King completed second in 19.78, whereas Alex Painter out-touched Mikkel Lee by a hundredth for third (20.12).
Scores At The First Break (no diving):
- Girls: #4 Florida, 83 — #7 Indiana, 67
- Males: #4 Florida, 76 — #2 Indiana, 74
Second Interval
Order of Occasions:
- 100 freestyle
- 200 backstroke
- 200 breaststroke
- 500 freestyle
- 100 butterfly
The Indiana ladies got here out of the primary break robust, following up their win within the 50 freestyle by going 1-2 within the 100 freestyle. Anna Peplowski, swimming right down to the 100 free, earned her second occasion win of the day. She logged 48.90 to the touch .32 seconds forward of Paegle, who gained the 50 freestyle shortly earlier than.
Liendo, the boys’s 50 freestyle winner, picked up his second occasion win of the day within the 100 freestyle. As soon as once more, he got here out on high in his battle with King, swimming 43.40 to beat the second-place King by .32 seconds. Lee, a sophomore trying to hold rolling after massive enhancements as a freshman, took third (43.88).
The 200 backstroke is a power for the Florida ladies, and certainly, Sims earned the backstroke sweep by inserting first within the 200 backstroke with a 1:54.77. She gained by over three seconds, however the Hoosiers didn’t let the Gators run away with the occasion; they earned second by way of fourth place, led by Freed’s 1:57.99. McDonald accomplished his backstroke sweep within the subsequent occasion, hitting 1:43.48.
Florida freshman Aiden Norman, the double backstroke gold-medallist on the 2024 Junior Pan Pacs, took second in 1:45.05, splitting 53.75 on the again half of the race to move Knedla’s quick begin. The Czech freshman earned third in 1:45.21.
Norman’s classmate Gracie Weyant adopted up by profitable the ladies’s 200 breaststroke within the subsequent occasion. She swam 2:13.33, touching over a half-second forward of Indiana freshman Mary Elizabeth Cespedes (2:13.98). The Indiana males at the moment have a stronger males’s breaststroke group nationally, however the Hoosier ladies did their job right here, incomes one other 2-3-4 end. Unsurprisingly, Indiana gained the boys’s 200 breaststroke, with Jassen Yep swimming 1:54.93. Aleksas Savickas obtained in for second place (1:59.66), however Josh Matheny (1:59.94) and Benzing (2:00.03) added factors with their third and fourth-place finishes.
The Florida ladies prolonged their lead within the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly, incomes 1-2 finishes in each occasions. Weyant and Brousseau took the highest two spots within the 500 freestyle; just like the 200 freestyle, it was an in depth race between the 2 Olympians. Weyant bested Brousseau once more, this time with a wider margin of victory as she swam 4:44.32 to out-touch Brousseau’s 4:44.68. Denigan and Gan completed third (4:50.89) and fourth (4:52.43). Sims picked up her third occasion win within the 100 butterfly, swimming 52.84 within the 100 fly to beat Peoples (53.57), the reigning SEC champion. Grana earned her second third-place end of the day in 53.79.
The Florida males’s distance group returned to work within the 500 freestyle and earned the highest two spots. Nevertheless, they weren’t almost as dominant as they have been within the 1000 freestyle, the place they swept the highest 4 spots. Mitchell (4:23.41) and Brown (4:25.55) have been the highest two finishers, however the Hoosiers cleaned up the remainder of the factors by taking third, fourth, and fifth. Miroslaw led the Hoosier finishers with a 4:27.00 for third.
Liendo gained his third particular person occasion of the meet with a 47.13 within the males’s 100 butterfly; sophomore Scotty Buff adopted him to the wall in 47.52. Buff’s swim earned the Gators a 1-2 end, with Indiana’s Raekwon Noel ending third in 47.61, unable to shut the hole to Buff. Indiana earned one other 3-4-5 end for the second straight occasion. That ensures that although they have been down by two on the first break, they head into the final males’s diving occasion and the ultimate two swimming occasions with a one-point lead over the Gators.
Scores At The Second Break (no diving):
- Girls: #4 Florida, 148 — #7 Indiana, 116
- Males: #2 Indiana, 123 — #4 Florida, 122
Third Interval
Order of Occasions:
- 200 IM
- 400 freestyle relay
Paris Olympic teammates Peplowski and Weyant confronted off for the second time this meet within the ladies’s 200 IM. Peplowski led Weyant by over two seconds on the midway mark; she nonetheless led with 50 yards to go, however Weyant had closed the hole considerably with a 33.99 breaststroke cut up. Weyant headed to the free leg simply three-tenths behind Peplowski.
She out-split Peplowski by three-hundredths on the freestyle leg, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to shut the hole, and Peplowski earned the win by .27 seconds, 1:59.10 to 1:59.37. Indiana picked up some factors in opposition to the Gators as they touched first, third, and fourth within the occasion.
The ultimate occasion of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay, noticed one other shut race between Florida and Indiana. The Gators’ ‘A’ relay of Sims (49.44), Addison Reese (50.27), Kruger (50.24), and Cronk (48.68) prevailed by .24 seconds. The quartet as soon as once more held off a late cost from the Hoosiers ‘A’ relay. Paegle led off in 49.40, giving the Hoosiers the lead, although they obtained a 50.75 cut up from Mya DeWitt and a 50.51 cut up from Reese Tiltmann, the Gators went previous them on the center 200 yards. Recent off the 200 IM, Peplowski anchored in 48.21, out-splitting the Gators’ anchor, however couldn’t fairly pull forward.
Florida cemented its win with a 3:18.63, whereas Indiana claimed second in 3:18.87. Florida’s ‘B’ relay was disqualified, and the Hoosiers claimed the ultimate factors within the relay with a 3:27.37 from the ‘B’ squad.
On the boys’s facet, McDonald gained his third particular person occasion of the meet within the 200 IM. Smith was forward of him after the butterfly leg, however McDonald handed him on the backstroke leg. Smith closed the hole with a 31.02 breaststroke cut up, however McDonald’s 25.48 anchor was sufficient to maintain him forward of Smith. McDonald swam 1:46.20, profitable by a half-second over Smith (1:46.70). Notably, the Gators went 2-3 with Smith and Laur, with Indiana choosing up factors from its first, fourth, and fifth place finishes within the occasion.
Then, the Hoosiers dominated the 400 freestyle relay. They went with Miroslaw (43.43), King (43.10), Lee (43.10), and Frankel (43.83) for the ‘A’ relay, and the quartet gained with a 2:53.46, beating Florida’s ‘A’ squad by 2.54 seconds. Florida’s ‘A’ crew of Dilger (43.87), Painter (43.53), Buff (43.91), and Smith (44.69) swam 2:56.00.
There have been disqualifications within the males’s 400 free relay as nicely. Indiana has been jumpy all season, and that continued right here because the Hoosiers’ ‘B’ relay was disqualified. Florida’s ‘D’ squad was disqualified as nicely.
The meet directors didn’t add the diving factors in till earlier than the ultimate two occasions of the day. Quinn Henniger and Carson Tyler have been the highest two divers on each the 1-meter and 3-meter boards (every gained one occasion), which prolonged the Hoosiers’ lead. On the finish of the ultimate occasion, the Indiana males had racked up 163 factors, beating Florida by 26 factors. On the ladies’s facet, the Gators claimed victory, scoring 163 factors to the Hoosiers’ 136.
Based on Florida’s communications division, the Gator males held a 4-0 collection benefit heading into the meet, that means this win marks the Indiana males’s first in opposition to the Gators. The Florida ladies’s win means they enhance to a 2-3 report in opposition to the Hoosiers.
