The No. 7 Gator men’s swimming and diving team was crowned the champion out of six competing squads at the Purdue Invitational on Sunday, while the No. 4 Florida women finished out the three-day competition in second place of seven teams.

“For where we’re at in our training, I thought the team swam well this weekend,” said head coach Gregg Troy.  “We got better through the meet, which is what we want to see in a three day meet.  This weekend showed us that we’re on track with our training, and  we’re getting into great physical shape.”

In the 1650 freestyle final, which was held between the preliminary and finals sessions on Sunday, Kim Larson (Longwood) notched a first-place finish for the Gators in an NCAA provisional time of 16:47.49, while Laurabeth Guenthner (Wellington) claimed third with a 16:55.91. 

Tobias Work (Falmouth, Mass.) claimed the win on the men’s side for the Gators in an NCAA provisional time of 15:16.59.  Matt Coan (Plantation) notched a third-place finish in the same event.

Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach) broke the Doris Z. Holloway pool record at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center, en route to an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:40.73 in the championship final of the men’s 200 backstroke.  In the championship final of the men’s 200 butterfly Tim Hughes (Winter Park) claimed third-place in a time of 1:49.50.  Jonathan Wilcox (Bellevue, Wash.) notched a second-place finish for the Orange and Blue in the men’s platform final, with a score of 334.8.

“The men raced well in most places,” said Troy.  “We had some freestyle swims that were outstanding and Lochte’s run in the backstroke was an amazing swim for this time of year.  We still have some areas where we need to get better, we’re not very good in the breaststroke yet.  Also, while we’re real good depth-wise, we’ve still got to get some guys to step it up in a couple places.”

In the 400 freestyle relay the women’s team of Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Tex.), Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.), Candace Weiman (Castro Valley, Calif.) and Natalie Pike (Boca Raton) claimed top honors in the championship final with a provisional time of 3:20.78.  Lochte, Daniel Penniman (Pensacola), Jos Smith (Macon, Ga.) and Nick Borreca (Honolulu, Hawaii) combined to take second in an NCAA provisional time of 2:58.02.

“For the women we did really well this weekend,” said Troy.  “We’re still a little short-handed, and right now we’re weaker in the breaststroke than usual.  Some of the women’s provisional times should qualify for the NCAA meet, the 400 free relay usually qualifies for the women, so to make that so early in the season is big for us.”

The Florida men posted a team score of 882.5 to take first place at the invitational, while Purdue took second with a total of 675 points and Northwestern finished with 629 for third.  The Gators scored 683 to take second on the women’s side, behind Purdue which finished with a total of 880 in first place.  Tennessee notched third place in the women’s competition, with a total of 670 points.

Over the course of the weekend the Gators recorded a total of 33 NCAA provisional qualifying times, with 22 on the women’s side and 11 for the men, while Lochte and Weiman each notched an NCAA automatic time individually.  As a team the Orange and Blue took first place in nine events, second in 12 and third in nine over the course of the weekend.

“Overall I’m pleased with the performances this weekend,” said Troy.  “We had some great relay swims and I feel like this is a great way to end the fall.  We’re a little beat up right now on the women’s side, but a nice break over Thanksgiving should let everybody get some rest and return strong.”

A downloadable version of the results from all three days of finals competition at the Purdue Invitational is available at www.gatorzone.com.  The Florida men and women each return to the water Tuesday in a home meet against Florida State in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium.  Dual meet action is slated to begin at 5 p.m.

Combined Results

Day Three Finals

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