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Indiana Men, Florida Women Claim Wins To Kick Off Second Semester Of NCAA Season

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Indiana Men, Florida Women Claim Wins To Kick Off Second Semester Of NCAA Season


Indiana vs. Florida

  • January 3, 2025
  • Stephen C. O’Connell Center — Gainesville, FL
  • 25 Yards (SCY)
  • Final Scores:
    • Women: #4 Florida, 164 def. #7 Indiana, 136
    • Men: #2 Indiana, 163 def. #4 Florida, 137
  • Full Results: “UF vs. Indiana” on MeetMobile

The Florida Gators hosted the Indiana Hoosiers as they rang in the new year, celebrating their graduating senior class before the dual meet began. This competition marks the first of the second semester for both teams, and it’s a rare matchup. According to the Gators’ communications team, this is just the fifth head-to-head matchup between the Gators and the Hoosiers. Notably, Indiana has taken on a tough schedule this season; the team has already faced a high-powered Texas team.

The swimming portion of the meet was divided into three sections by the diving events. The meet kicked off with the women’s 1-meter and men’s 3-meter. Then, after seven events, the women’s 3-meter competed. After five more events, the men’s 1-meter dove, then the meet concluded with the final two events.

Indiana had several big additions joining 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. However, the squad was without Caspar Corbeau, who announced he was returning to the NCAA and joining Indiana’s quest for an NCAA title last month. Fifth-year Adam Chaney remains on the Florida roster but didn’t race today and still hasn’t swum in an NCAA meet this season.

First Period

Order of Events:

  • 200 medley relay
  • 1000 freestyle
  • 200 freestyle
  • 100 backstroke
  • 100 breaststroke
  • 200 butterfly
  • 50 freestyle

The Gators started the meet strong, as the team swept the women’s and men’s 200 medley relay and 1000 freestyle. The women’s ‘A’ medley relay of Catie Choate (25.09), Anita Bottazzo (28.00), Olivia Peoples (23.54), and Micayla Cronk (22.21) earned a narrow 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 sizable lead at the final exchange; Paegle, Indiana’s top sprinter, anchored in 21.61 but 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 men had a 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 got his first NCAA swim in an Indiana cap under his belt by anchoring the Hoosiers’ ‘A’ relay in 19.21.

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The Gators’ distance group went to work in the 1000 freestyle. Sophomore Michaela Mattes pulled out another close win for the home team, clocking 9:45.64 to finish ahead of Indiana’s Mariah Denigan (9:46.04) and Ching Hwee Gan (9:46.32). The Florida men earned a 1-2-3-4 finish in the men’s 1000 freestyle, led by Eric Brown’s 9:05.02. Freshman Luke Corey finished second, over a second behind Brown in 9:06.96.

Indiana struck back by sweeping the 200 freestyle. Olympian Anna Peplowski dominated the women’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 fall term on the World Cup circuit. He swam 1:34.33 for the win, also winning by a wide margin as he touched 3.09 seconds ahead of Florida’s Jake Mitchell (1:37.42).

The 100 backstroke was the first split event, as Florida got back in the win column on the women’s side as sophomores Bella Sims (52.07) and Choate (53.40) notched a 1-2 finish ahead of Indiana’s Miranda Grana (53.50), who’s been a standout for the Hoosiers since transferring to Bloomington this fall. Her fellow transfer, Owen McDonald, earned the win in the men’s 100 backstroke, roaring to a 46.99. He and Knedla (47.74) took first and second for Indiana, while Marshall joined the pair sub-48 with a 47.98 for third place.

Anita Bottazzo and Julian Smith had standout performances in the 100 breaststroke at the Georgia Fall Invitational. Bottazzo became the third-fastest freshman in the event in her first SCY meet (57.49), while Smith broke Caeleb Dressel’s SEC record, swimming 49.98 and moving to fourth-fastest in history. Both won the 100 breaststroke at this dual, with Bottazzo swimming 1:00.63 and Smith 53.20. Bottazzo won by 1.59 seconds, but Smith had a closer race on his hands. He was first at the halfway point, then held off strong closes from Hoosier grad students Brian Benzing and Jassen Yep. Benzing grabbed second in 53.33, with Yep just behind in 53.35.

The Florida women earned another 1-2 finish in the 200 fly, this time courtesy of Addison Reese (1:59.01) and Lainy Kruger (1:59.16). The race was one of the closest of the meet, as the top four swimmers were separated by .97 seconds. Anna Freed broke up the Gators’ party by touching in 1:59.46, earning third ahead of Mabel Zavaros. Indiana earned its second win of the period in the 50 freestyle, as Kristina Paegle soared ahead of Cronk for the win in 22.34.  Cronk swam 22.97 and was the only swimmer to join Paegle under the 23-second mark.

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Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Florida closed out the period with two event wins. Mason Laur claimed the 200 butterfly for Florida ahead of a 2-3-4 finish from the Hoosiers. Liendo dominated the 50 freestyle, stopping the clock at 19.32. King finished second in 19.78, while Alex Painter out-touched Mikkel Lee by a hundredth for third (20.12).

Scores At The First Break (no diving):

  • Women: #4 Florida, 83 — #7 Indiana, 67
  • Men: #4 Florida, 76 — #2 Indiana, 74

Second Period

Order of Events:

  • 100 freestyle
  • 200 backstroke
  • 200 breaststroke
  • 500 freestyle
  • 100 butterfly

The Indiana women came out of the first break strong, following up their win in the 50 freestyle by going 1-2 in the 100 freestyle. Anna Peplowski, swimming down to the 100 free, earned her second event win of the day. She logged 48.90 to touch .32 seconds ahead of Paegle, who won the 50 freestyle shortly before.

Liendo, the men’s 50 freestyle winner, picked up his second event win of the day in the 100 freestyle. Once again, he came out on top in his battle with King, swimming 43.40 to beat the second-place King by .32 seconds. Lee, a sophomore looking to keep rolling after big improvements as a freshman, took third (43.88).

The 200 backstroke is a strength for the Florida women, and indeed, Sims earned the backstroke sweep by placing first in the 200 backstroke with a 1:54.77. She won by over three seconds, but the Hoosiers didn’t let the Gators run away with the event; they earned second through fourth place, led by Freed’s 1:57.99. McDonald completed his backstroke sweep in the next event, hitting 1:43.48.

Florida freshman Aiden Norman, the double backstroke gold-medallist at the 2024 Junior Pan Pacs, took second in 1:45.05, splitting 53.75 on the back half of the race to pass Knedla’s fast start. The Czech freshman earned third in 1:45.21.

Norman’s classmate Gracie Weyant followed up by winning the women’s 200 breaststroke in the next event. She swam 2:13.33, touching over a half-second ahead of Indiana freshman Mary Elizabeth Cespedes (2:13.98). The Indiana men currently have a stronger men’s breaststroke group nationally, but the Hoosier women did their job here, earning another 2-3-4 finish. Unsurprisingly, Indiana won the men’s 200 breaststroke, with Jassen Yep swimming 1:54.93. Aleksas Savickas got in for second place (1:59.66), but Josh Matheny (1:59.94) and Benzing (2:00.03) added points with their third and fourth-place finishes.

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The Florida women extended their lead in the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly, earning 1-2 finishes in both events. Weyant and Brousseau took the top two spots in the 500 freestyle; like the 200 freestyle, it was a close race between the two Olympians. Weyant bested Brousseau again, 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 finished third (4:50.89) and fourth (4:52.43). Sims picked up her third event win in the 100 butterfly, swimming 52.84 in the 100 fly to beat Peoples (53.57), the reigning SEC champion. Grana earned her second third-place finish of the day in 53.79.

The Florida men’s distance group returned to work in the 500 freestyle and earned the top two spots. However, they weren’t nearly as dominant as they were in the 1000 freestyle, where they swept the top four spots. Mitchell (4:23.41) and Brown (4:25.55) were the top two finishers, but the Hoosiers cleaned up the rest of the points by taking third, fourth, and fifth. Miroslaw led the Hoosier finishers with a 4:27.00 for third.

Liendo won his third individual event of the meet with a 47.13 in the men’s 100 butterfly; sophomore Scotty Buff followed him to the wall in 47.52. Buff’s swim earned the Gators a 1-2 finish, with Indiana’s Raekwon Noel finishing third in 47.61, unable to close the gap to Buff. Indiana earned another 3-4-5 finish for the second straight event. That ensures that though they were down by two at the first break, they head into the last men’s diving event and the final two swimming events with a one-point lead over the Gators.

Scores At The Second Break (no diving):

  • Women: #4 Florida, 148 — #7 Indiana, 116
  • Men: #2 Indiana, 123 — #4 Florida, 122

Third Period

Order of Events:

  • 200 IM
  • 400 freestyle relay

Paris Olympic teammates Peplowski and Weyant faced off for the second time this meet in the women’s 200 IM. Peplowski led Weyant by over two seconds at the halfway mark; she still led with 50 yards to go, but Weyant had closed the gap significantly with a 33.99 breaststroke split. Weyant headed to the free leg just three-tenths behind Peplowski.

She out-split Peplowski by three-hundredths on the freestyle leg, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap, and Peplowski earned the win by .27 seconds, 1:59.10 to 1:59.37. Indiana picked up some points against the Gators as they touched first, third, and fourth in the event.

The final event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay, saw another close 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 once again held off a late charge from the Hoosiers ‘A’ relay. Paegle led off in 49.40, giving the Hoosiers the lead, though they got a 50.75 split from Mya DeWitt and a 50.51 split from Reese Tiltmann, the Gators went past them on the middle 200 yards. Fresh off the 200 IM, Peplowski anchored in 48.21, out-splitting the Gators’ anchor, but couldn’t quite pull ahead.

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Florida cemented its win with a 3:18.63, while Indiana claimed second in 3:18.87. Florida’s ‘B’ relay was disqualified, and the Hoosiers claimed the final points in the relay with a 3:27.37 from the ‘B’ squad.

On the men’s side, McDonald won his third individual event of the meet in the 200 IM. Smith was ahead of him after the butterfly leg, but McDonald passed him on the backstroke leg. Smith closed the gap with a 31.02 breaststroke split, but McDonald’s 25.48 anchor was enough to keep him ahead of Smith. McDonald swam 1:46.20, winning by a half-second over Smith (1:46.70). Notably, the Gators went 2-3 with Smith and Laur, with Indiana picking up points from its first, fourth, and fifth place finishes in the event.

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 won with a 2:53.46, beating Florida’s ‘A’ squad by 2.54 seconds. Florida’s ‘A’ team of Dilger (43.87), Painter (43.53), Buff (43.91), and Smith (44.69) swam 2:56.00.

There were disqualifications in the men’s 400 free relay as well. Indiana has been jumpy all season, and that continued here as the Hoosiers’ ‘B’ relay was disqualified. Florida’s ‘D’ squad was disqualified as well.

The meet administrators didn’t add the diving points in until before the final two events of the day. Quinn Henniger and Carson Tyler were the top two divers on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards (each won one event), which extended the Hoosiers’ lead. At the end of the final event, the Indiana men had racked up 163 points, beating Florida by 26 points. On the women’s side, the Gators claimed victory, scoring 163 points to the Hoosiers’ 136.

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According to Florida’s communications department, the Gator men held a 4-0 series advantage heading into the meet, meaning this win marks the Indiana men’s first against the Gators. The Florida women’s win means they improve to a 2-3 record against the Hoosiers.





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Here’s how to protect your plants as Central Florida braces for frigid air

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Here’s how to protect your plants as Central Florida braces for frigid air


OVIEDO, Fla. – Lukas Nursery is ready to help you protect your plants against the big chill heading toward Central Florida this week.

Bri Murray is the assistant sales manager at Lukas Nursery. News 6 asked her to give us tips on the best ways to cover your plants and common mistakes you should avoid.

[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]

“The common mistake that is often made with either frost blankets or covering your plants is ‘Well, I just need to keep the plants warm. I don’t need to keep anything else warm like the trunk,’” said Murray. “Well, the majority of where you’re going to get heat from is actually the ground. So if you entrap the ground with the plant, then the heat from the ground keeps it like a nice circular of insulation inside that frost blanket.”

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Murray said one item people should remember when they’re out shopping for frost blankets is pins. The pins are used to secure the frost blanket into the ground and trap heat inside.

“You’re keeping the heat from the ground, like I mentioned before, inside the blanket, which then keeps it warm like a greenhouse,” Murray said.

Murray also says you shouldn’t use plastic tarps or trash bags to protect your plants.

“That typically holds in condensation, which holds in moisture, and again, that’ll freeze your plants,” Murray said. “So using a frost blanket is important because it does allow the plants to ventilate properly and breathe, but keeping it warm and keeping it insulated.”

To see Lukas Nursery’s hours of operation, click here.

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Meloni pays surprise flying visit to Trump in Florida – Politics – Ansa.it

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Meloni pays surprise flying visit to Trump in Florida – Politics – Ansa.it


Premier Giorgia Meloni paid a surprise
flying visit to United States President-elect Donald Trump at
his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Saturday.

   
Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI)
party, arrived in Florida at around 19:30 local time and flew
back to Rome less than five hours later.

   
“She’s really taken Europe by storm,” Trump said of Meloni
before a group of people at the residence, according to Wall
Street Journal reporter Alex Leary.

   
Incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also present and
called Meloni a “great ally, strong leader”, Leary reported.

   
The war in Ukraine, gas supplies and possible new US tariffs on
EU goods were among the issues the leaders discussed, sources
said.

   
The New York Times reported that Meloni also pressed hard about
the case of Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist arrested in
Iran, three days after an Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini was
picked up at Milan’s Malpensa airport on US charges of supplying
drone parts used to kill three servicemen in Jordan.

   
During the visit, Trump showed Meloni a documentary about
alleged fraud in the 2020 US presidential election.

   

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA



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13-year-old fatally shot in Florida City neighborhood, police say – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale

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13-year-old fatally shot in Florida City neighborhood, police say – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale


HOMESTEAD, FLA. (WSVN) – A teenager was killed after he came under fire in a Florida City neighborhood, police said.

7News cameras captured squad cars from Florida City and Homestead Police in the area of Northwest 13th Street and Sixth Avenue, at around 10:20 p.m., Saturday.

According to Florida City Police, officers arrived at the scene to find the 13-year-old victim in the rear yard of a home suffering from gunshot wounds.

Paramedics with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue airlifted the teen to Jackson South Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

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Back at the scene, officers cordoned off an entire block as they carry out their investigation. They appear to be focusing on a dark colored car, though it’s unclear how it’s related to the crime scene.

Area residents told 7News they started hearing gunshots before 8 p.m. They said the victim is a 13-year-old boy.

Miami-Dade Police’s Homicide Bureau has taken over the ongoing investigation.

Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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