UF Men’s Swimming & Diving: First Day in the Books for No. 11 Gators at Last Chance Meet
Photo by Courtney Culbreath
Courtesy of UF Athletic Association
Florida notched seven B-cuts and produced 17 career-best times on Saturday.
The No. 11 University of Florida men’s swimming squad concluded the first day of racing at the Bulldog Invitational Last Chance Meet on Saturday at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga.
In total, Florida notched seven B-cuts and set 17 new personal-best efforts throughout Saturday’s competition.
The Gators were well-represented in the first event of the day as six took to the water in the 100 fly.
Eric Friese led the way in the morning with the second-fastest time in the heat, touching in a B-cut effort of 46.17. In the evening final, he would post the fastest time of 46.29.
Isaac Davis finished behind Friese in both heats (second and third), with his morning swim sitting as his fastest time ever and a B-cut with an effort of 46.37.
Tyler Silver also notched a B-cut in both sessions, with his prelim swim of 46.91 standing as the senior’s best effort of the day.
The trio of Nick Hackett, Jake Adcock, and Marty Stange all posted personal-best swims in the prelims.
Hackett touched on Saturday morning in a new lifetime-best effort of 48.63 and would go on to finish sixth in the finals with a time of 48.65.
Adcock’s 11th-place time in the prelims set a new career-best of 49.34, as he would go on to finish tied for seventh in the evening session.
Stange posted a new lifetime-best of 49.34 in the prelims, 1.66 seconds faster than his previous best.
Tyler Watson would lead Florida in the 500 free prelims with his top time of 4:19.47, a new personal-best and a B-cut.
Advait Page would finish third in the prelims, also securing a new lifetime-best effort as the freshman touched in 4:25.05.
Kevin Vargas and Matthew Anderson served as Florida’s final two competitors in the event, as Vargas finished in fourth with a prelim time of 4:26.91.
Anderson was the only Gator to swim in the finals, as the senior would cut almost 13 full seconds off his prelim swim time to lead the evening heat with a new personal-best time of 4:20.76.
He set his previous best of 4:20.78 at the Southeastern Conference Championships last week in Auburn.
The 200 IM was a successful event for the Orange and Blue, as every Gator would produce a new personal-best time.
Miguel Cancel led the way, posting the top time in the prelims after touching in a new career-best time of 1:47.
Ethan McCloud (1:47.68) and Dylan Brisco (1:48.43) would finish behind Cancel in second and third with new lifetime-best swims of their own.
Hector Rodriguez secured his best time as a Gator with his sixth-place effort of 1:54.39.
No Gator took to the water in the evening final session.
Friese would go on to secure his second B-cut of the day in the 50 free with an effort of 19.84, just .34 seconds off a personal-best set last week at SEC’s.
Isaac Davis barely missed a B-cut, earning a seventh-place prelim finish with his effort of 19.99.
Jack Szaranek and Marty Stange competed in both the morning and evening session. Szaranek would cut .02 seconds off his morning time to finish in seventh in the A-final with a time of 20.14.
Stange would touch in a personal-best time of 20.68 in the morning before finishing in fifth-place (13th overall) in the B-final with an effort of 20.75.
The duo of Ethan Beach and Ethan McCloud hit the water in the 200 back, as Ethan Beach would notch a B-cut with both his morning and evening swims. He would touch in the morning session in a time of 1:42.44 for his best time of the day.
McCloud would set a new personal-best of 1:45.86 in the evening after cutting almost two full seconds off his prelim swim. His effort was good for third in the B-final and 11th overall.
After tallying new personal-bests in the 100 breast prelims, freshmen Dylan Brisco and Hector Rodriguez came back in the evening and improved on their times to secure a new top time.
Brisco finished in fifth place with a time of 55.12, .72 seconds faster than his effort in the morning. Rodriguez would trim .18 seconds off his prelim time to finish in sixth with a swim of 55.36.
A trio of Gators would compete in the final individual event of the day, with Jorge Depassier leading the way in the 200 free. Depassier would set his best time in the day in the morning with his prelim effort of 1:38.08. In the evening, he would register a sixth-place finish in the A-final.
Lucas Kravchenko would finish right behind him in the finals with a swim of 1:38.24, .12 seconds better than his morning effort.
Nick Hackett rounded out Florida’s finishers with a third-place finish in the B-final (11th overall) after tallying his best time of 1:40.81 in the morning.
The 200 medley relay of Silver, Rodriguez, Friese, and Szaranek finished off the first day of competition with a third-place finish, with a combined swim of 1:26.67.
Szaranek anchored the squad with a 50 free split of 19.24.
 What’s Next
Florida will wrap up the Last Chance Meet on Sunday, starting with the preliminary rounds beginning at 10:00 a.m.
The final session will get pushed up to 4:00 p.m.
Gator divers will head to Athens, Ga. for the 2020 Diving Zones looking to meet their championship qualifying scores on March 9-11.
The team will then come together for their last competition of the season at the 2020 NCAA Championships on March 25-28 in Indianapolis, Ind.