A new Southeastern Conference record in the women’s 200 medley relay led the University of Florida men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams to a strong start on Day One of the SEC Championships in Tuscaloosa.  The Gator women currently stand in first place with 89 points while the men are in sixth with 66 points.

The third ranked women swam to a time of 1:37.23 to set a new SEC, school and pool record.  The time was also the fastest in the country this season and served as an automatic qualifying time for the Gators.  The time was a new Florida record by 1.78 seconds. 

Gemma Spofforth led off the event for the Gators, touching in with a split time of 24.25 before handing the race over to Caroline Burckle who kept the lead in the butterfly leg.  Colleen Healy held off Auburn in the butterfly before Stephanie Napier touched the wall 1.23 seconds ahead of Auburn to earn the record and win for Florida.

For Burckle it was the third SEC record of her career and sixth SEC Championship in the sixth different event for the senior.

“We are real pleased with all the women’s performances, obviously the 200 (medley) relay was great,” said Head Coach Gregg Troy.  “The 800 free, we were out-swum, but we were happy with the result, we had lifetime bests all across the board.”

The Gators turned in a third place finish in the 800-yard free relay with the tenth fastest time in school history of 7:05.81.  Burckle led off the relay for the women, swimming to an NCAA automatic, career-best time of 1:44.40.  She was followed by Natalie Pike, Kim Larson, and Liz Kemp.  Pike pulled the Gators to second place, but Tennessee came alive in the final two legs to pull off a second place finish. 

Florida’s women totaled three automatic and three provisional times after day one.

“On the men’s side, both relays were good, they will get them to the NCAA meet, but we didn’t think we swam our fastest and we’re obviously looking to get better,” said Troy.

The sixth ranked Gator men swam to the seventh best time in school history, touching third in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:26.80.  Omar Pinzon, Clark Burckle, Shaune Fraser and Jos Smith earned the third provisional time of the meet for Florida with their time.

Florida used a strong fourth leg from Roland Rudolf to swim to a second place finish in the 800-yard free with a time of 6:22.84.  The Gators came back from a third place turn heading into the final leg of the race.  Tennessee touched in with a time of 6:19.18.  Daniel Penniman’s lead-off leg of 1:37.92 was an NCAA provisional cut, giving the Gators a total of four provisional times on the day.

On the diving boards, Florida’s divers were just edged out for a spot in the finals.  Sarah Ellerby had the Gators best score of the preliminaries, diving to a total of 261.90 points and an 11th place finish in the preliminaries.  Monica Dodson followed closely with a total of 257.70 to place 12th, followed by Jeana Bartell who placed 13th with a total of 255.80.  Bartell and Jennifer Funch were separated by just one place with Funch coming in 15th with a total of 251.70. 

Florida picked up three provisional times in the time trials this morning.  Florida’s women earned a time of 1:40.00 in the 200 medley while the men picked up a time of 1:27.96.  Florida’s 800-yard free relay time trial team touched in with a time of 7:17.63 to earn another provisional qualifying time.

The SEC Championships will return to action tomorrow morning with preliminaries beginning at 10:00 am for the 500-yard freestyle, 200 individual medley relay, 50 freestyle, men’s one meter diving, women’s three meter diving and 200 freestyle.

Live results can be found at www.rolltide.com.