The No. 9 University of Florida women’s swimming and diving team (8-2, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) came away from Saturday’s tri-meet in Tuscaloosa, Ala., with a pair of victories over SEC opponents Alabama and South Carolina. The Gator women tallied nine first-place finishes by five different individuals, including two by juniors Amanda Hartley (Tallahassee, Fla.) and Leah Retrum (Colombus, Ind.), en route to downing the Crimson Tide, 181-119, and the Gamecocks, 176.5-123.5.

“After coming off of a very physical contest against Auburn last night, the women raced pretty well,” Florida head coach Gregg Troy said. “We won a lot of close races, and that helps prepare us for the conference and national championships because every race at those competitions will be very close.”

Retrum notched two NCAA provisional-qualifying times in her pair of individual victories after clocking in at 1:59.12 in the 200-yard backstroke and 4:20.53 in the 400-yard individual medley. In addition, Hartley swept the breaststroke events as she touched the wall in 1:04.69 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 2:19.70 in the 200-yard breast.

“Leah is returning to her old form from before her shoulder surgery, and that bodes very well for us late in the season. Amanda is also really beginning to come around in the breaststroke events, and she’s starting to peak at the right time,” Troy added.

Sophomore Laurabeth Guenthner (Wellington, Fla.) claimed the first individual victory of the afternoon with a time of 9:55.83 in the 1,000-yard freestyle, and junior Samantha Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.) and sophomore Lauren Winter (Dalkeith, Australie) picked up wins in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle, respectively, with times of 56.60 and 51.55.

Redshirt junior Katie Ball (Cincinnati, Ohio) finished less than half of a second behind Guenthner to notch second place in the 1,000 free (9:56.25), and sophomore Kelsy Smith (Cary, N.C.) also claimed a pair of second-place finishes as she clocked in times of 1:51.41 in the 200-yard freestyle and 4:58.00 in the 500-yard freestyle. Freshman Sarah Peterson (Franklin, Tenn.) finished runner-up to Vanderbilt in the 100 back with a time of 57.97.

The Gators made a strong showing in the 50-yard freestyle as freshman Stephanie Napier (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and juniors Natalie Pike (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Vanderbilt finished 2-3-4. Napier led the trio with a time of 23.64 for second place, while Pike and Vanderbilt recorded times of 23.97 and 24.12, respectively.

Senior Ashley Carusone (High Springs, Fla.) collected a third-place finish in the 400 IM (4:25.33), and Vanderbilt added a bronze finish for the Gators in the 200 back (2:08.65).

Florida dominated its SEC opponents in the relay events, as the quartet of Vanderbilt, Smith, junior Kim Larson (Longwood, Fla.) and Napier notched first place in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:48.53, and Peterson, freshman Elizabeth Kemp (Potomac, Md.), Pike and Winter claimed the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:26.53).

In diving action, sophomore Jeana Bartell (Boca Raton, Fla.) recorded a season-best score of 242.05 on the 1-meter board for second place, and sophomore Whitney Stern (Safety Harbor, Fla.), freshman Jennifer Funch (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Bartell finished 3-4-5 in the 3-meter competition.

Florida will return to the water next weekend as it closes the regular season with a pair of home meets against No. 16 Tennessee and Florida Atlantic on Friday, Jan. 27, and Saturday, Jan. 28.

Women’s Results (Florida 181 - Alabama 119; Florida 176.5 – South Carolina 123.5)

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