Florida swim improves at Florida Invitational – The Independent Florida Alligator

From Thursday-to-Saturday, the Florida men’s and women’s swimming team hosted NOVA Southeastern University in the O’Connell Center Natatorium for the Florida Invitational. 

Thursday, 11 Gators participated in three events and 10 of those swimmers recorded improved times from their morning preliminary trials. 

Florida claimed the top three spots in the men’s 500-yard freestyle, with junior Aryan Nehra placing first. Nehra dropped two and forty-one hundredths of a second from his preliminary time with a finish time of 4 minutes, 19.37 seconds.

Freshman Bobby Dinunzio III followed in second place, dropping 4.25 seconds from his preliminary trial with a final time of 4:21.23. Freshman Amadeusz Knop completed the event in 4:23.01, placing third and finishing .63 seconds faster than his preliminary time. 

In the women’s 200 IM, sophomore Grace Gardner placed first for NOVA Southeastern, finishing with a time of 2:08.29. Florida junior Molly Golding followed behind in second with a time of 2:11.71, .55 seconds faster than her preliminary trial. 

For the men’s 200 IM, freshman Caleb Maldari secured first place for the Gators with a time of 1:44.99, crushing his preliminary time of 1:48.06. Sophomore Cam Abaqueta followed in second place, dropping .85 seconds after his race in the preliminaries. 

Friday, the Gators dominated in the women’s 100 back with freshman Bella Sims placing first with a 50.44 NCAA A-cut time, beating her preliminary time by 1.44 seconds. Freshman Carly Meeting placed second with a time of 54.21. 

In the NCAA championships, A-cut times allow swimmers to participate in all events they have B-cut times in. 

Thirty-seven of Florida’s swimmers improved their final times following the preliminaries that Friday morning. Senior Adam Chaney, junior Julian Smith, sophomore Joshua Liendo and junior Macguire McDuff swam a 1:22.95 NCAA A-cut time in the men’s 200 relay.

Saturday, the final day of the invitational, freshman Bella Sims set a new program record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.44. Senior Isabel Ivey also set a new program record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:43:03. Nehra, junior Benjamin Cote, and Dinunzio III all achieved NCAA B-cut times in the 1,650-yard freestyle. 

The Gators will next compete in Auburn, Alabama, for the SEC Championships from Feb. 20- 24. The men’s team seeks a 12th consecutive championship while the women’s team aims for back-to-back conference titles. 

Contact Shaine Davison at sdavison@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @shainedavison.