The 11th-ranked University of Florida men’s swimming and diving team won the meet’s first 11 events against No. 17 Virginia en route to claiming a 176-104 victory over the Cavaliers on Friday night at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. With the win, UF (3-4, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) boosted its record against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference to 16-1 since 1998.

In addition to their 11 event wins, the Gators posted 10 NCAA qualifying times on the evening, including three from sophomore Lucas Salatta (Sao Paulo, Brazil). Junior Tobias Work (Falmouth, Mass.) also had a big night for Florida, capturing an NCAA automatic qualifying mark in the 1,650 free with a time of 15:03.68, in addition to notching an NCAA B cut in the 500 free (4:24.72). Junior Daniel Penniman (Pensacola, Fla.) was a multiple-event winner, taking the 50 free (20.82) and the 100 free (45.73) against UVa.

“Our men are starting to fire on all cylinders,” Florida head coach Gregg Troy said. “We’ve got some really talented guys who are starting to believe in themselves. The meets are starting to count now, and our guys stood up well.”

Salatta was the most dominant of the Florida men on Friday night, turning an individual win to go along with his three NCAA provisional standards. He took first in the 200 free with an NCAA B time of 1:36.91, while his times in the 100 fly (48.25) and 400 individual medley (3:52.60) both met the NCAA provisional standard and would have been victories had he not been swimming exhibition.

The quartet of Salatta, sophomore Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), freshman Shaune Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) and Penniman picked up an early win in the 200 MR for UF with a time of 1:30.46, before Work stepped in to claim the 1,650 free and punch his ticket to the national meet. Freshman Roland Rudolf (Budapest, Hungary) continued his strong rookie season against Virginia, earning NCAA provisional qualifying standards in the 200 back (1:45.75) and the 1,650 free (15:25.60). Ally and Fraser chipped in with wins and NCAA B cuts in the 200 breast (1:59.72) and the 200 fly (1:45.72), respectively. Sophomore Jonathan Wilcox (Bellevue, Wash.) also got in on the Gators’ winning ways with a first-place finish on the 1M board (343.20) to open the meet.

“We’re in a situation that we haven’t really been in before because we already have several guys that have qualified for the NCAA meet,” Troy said. “It’s a good group of guys that compete hard, and we’ll just have to figure out how to use them all at the conference meet.”

Florida will be in action again on Saturday when it squares off with Indian River (Fla.) Community College at 1:30 p.m. EST in the O’Connell Center. The Gators own a 20-0 all-time record against The River. Admission to the meet is free.

Men’s Results (Florida 176, Virginia 104)

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