The University of Florida and University of Michigan men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams wrapped up day one of a two-day dual meet, tonight, at the Stephen C. O’Connell Natatorium. The Florida women hold the lead over the Wolverines, 96-49, while the men trail Michigan 86-59. 

The UF women were paced by four top finishes in the 200-meter free relay, 400 freestyle, 50 freestyle and 400-meter medley relay while the men earend two top finishes in the 400 freestyle and 200 IM.

Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) continued her winning ways, earning top honors in the 400 freestyle with a time of 4:16.95.  Tobias Work (Falmouth, Mass.) also found the wall first, out touching Michigan standout Matt Patton by .46 in the 400 free to earn his third win of the season in the middle distance freestyle events.

Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) came in with a first place finish in the 200 IM, touching the wall in 2:08.26 to earn top points for his team.  The UF women earned big points in the sprint events as Stephanie Napier (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Elizabeth Kemp (Potomac, Md.) and Burckle combined to go 1-2-3 in the 50 free.  Tim Hughes (Winter Park, Fla.) led the men’s attack in the 50 free, finishing fourth with a time of 24.32.  Jos Smith (Milledgeville, Ga.), Shaune Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) and Daniel Penniman (Pensacola, Fla.) finished with fifth through seventh place times respectively.

The women’s 400-meter medley relay team also turned in several big performances as the Gators combined to take the top two spots in the race.  Florida’s A squad touched the wall well ahead of the rest of the field with a time of 4:19.82 while the Gators ‘B’ squad touched second with a time of 4:25.31.

On the men’s side, the Gators got a second, third and fifth place finish.  The second place team touched the wall just over two seconds behind Michigan’s team with a time of 3:52.79.

The Gators and Wolverines will revive their rivalry tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.  Diving will follow the morning swimming session at 1:00 p.m. before the meet wraps up with a 7:00 p.m. start tomorrow evening.