The No. 5 University of Florida men’s swimming and diving team (2-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) won seven events, and swept the top-three spots in two races, to earn a 132-103 win over LSU (0-3, 0-2 SEC) in its SEC opener on Thursday. UF moved to 6-2 in league openers since head coach Gregg Troy took over in 1999, with two of those victories coming against the Tigers.

“We swam pretty well again today, especially on an awkward day to have a meet in terms of our training schedule,” Troy said. “We had a lot of young guys really stand up, and we got to see them swim some different events. There was a lot of spirit today, and I was happy with the way we performed.”

The Gators claimed each of the top three spots in both the 200 and 500 free on the afternoon. Junior Grant Johnson (Clearwater, Fla.) led the way in the 200 with a time of 1:41.10, and he was followed by senior Matt Coan (Plantation, Fla.) and sophomore Jos Smith (Milledgeville, Ga.) in second and third with times of 1:41.56 and 1:43.67, respectively. Freshman Roland Rudolf (Budapest, Hungary) was the top finisher in the 500 free (4:31.58), while freshman Omar Pinzon (Bogota, Colombia) touched second (4:37.57) and sophomore Cody Kauffman (Harrisburg, Pa.) rounded out the sweep with a third-place showing (4:40.08).

Other Florida wins included victories by sophomore Ron Ballatore (Gainesville, Fla.) in the 100 free (47.17), and senior Scott Mullervy (Hightstown, N.J.) in the 200 breast (2:09.31) – both of whom were making their season debuts. Freshman Shaune Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) took first in the 200 individual medley (1:49.60) for his second individual win in as many meets to begin his collegiate career. Junior J.B. Walsh (Virginia Beach, Va.) collected his first win of the campaign, touching the wall in 1:51.38 to take first in the 200 fly. The quartet of Pinzon, sophomore Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Fraser and junior Daniel Penniman (Pensacola, Fla.) got the meet off to a good start for Florida with a win in the 400 MR (3:22.11).

In addition to their seven wins, the Gators also turned in seven runner-up finishes on the day. Ally placed second in the 50 free (21.36), Johnson earned runner-up honors in the 200 back (1:53.20), freshman Erich Matulic (Federal Way, Wash.) finished second in the 1,000 free (9:27.41) and Rudolf was second in the 200 IM (1:51.31). Coan and Pinzon’s second-place efforts in the 200 and 500 free, respectively, capped off Florida’s top-two finishers in the swimming events. Sophomore Jonathan Wilcox (Bellevue, Wash.) took second in the 1M dive with a score of 279.75.

“There were a lot of good swims today,” Troy said. “Shaune Fraser continues to impress, and Bradley Ally looked good in his events. The distance guys really impressed me with the way they swam, putting up some good times. One guy that has really been a pleasant surprise is Roland Rudolf. He’s proven to be much more versatile than we thought when we recruited him, and he’s a real asset to our team.”

With the win, UF improved to 17-0 all-time against LSU, and 4-0 during Troy’s tenure. The Tigers are one of 14 men’s teams against whom Florida owns a perfect record under Troy.

The Gators will be in action again on Thursday, Oct. 26, when it hosts SEC rival Georgia at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The time of the meet has been changed to 2 p.m. EST. The women’s 1M dive will take place at 12:15 p.m.

Men’s Results (Florida 132, LSU 103)

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