The Florida swimming and diving teams notched a pair of victories over Southeastern Conference foe Louisiana State Thursday at the LSU Natatorium in Baton Rouge, La.  The No. 4 Gator women defeated the Tigers 158-140 and moved to 7-1 (2-1), while the men claimed a 166-116 victory and sit at 7-2 (3-0) for the season.

“It was good to get the win today,” said head swimming coach Gregg Troy. “We swam pretty well for flying out the day before and it being an away meet. Our whole focus in this meet was to win the close races. We really wanted them to work on getting those tight races closed up and they did a good job of getting their hand on the wall and finishing those off.”

The quartet of Samantha Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.), Vipa Bernhardt (Bad Hersfeld, Germany), Colleen Healy (Cape Coral), and Natalie Pike (Boca Raton) notched a 1:44.26 to take first-place in the 200 medley relay, while Kristen Harris (Holmdel, N.J.), Caroline Drab (Lund, Sweden), Jennie Lindh (Kalmar, Sweden), and Mandy Huff (Gold Hill, N.C.) combined to take second in the same event with a time of 1:45.58.

In the 1,000 freestyle Kim Larson (Longwood) posted a 10:02.68 to claim the second top finish of the day for the Gators, while Jamie Reid (Orlando) and Jamie Tannhauser (Seattle, Wash.) completed the first one-two-three sweep of the day for the women claiming second and third in times of 10:07.72 and 10:16.00, respectively.  Ashley Carusone (Gainesville) claimed first place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:50.97, while Silke Nowotzin (Essen, Germany) posted a 1:51.50, good for third.

Vanderbilt, Kelsy Smith (Cary, N.C.) and Jenny Lago (Wellington) finished one-three-five in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall in times of 56.11, 57.98 and 59.81, resectively. In the 100 breaststroke, Drab out-touched Huff by two hundredths of a second to grab first-place in a time of 1:05.60, while Huff finished in 1:05.62.

The first and only NCAA provisional time of the meet on the women’s side went to Carusone, who finished first in the 200 butterfly with a 1:59.67. Bernhardt and Lago completed the sweep in second and third with times of 2:02.69 and 2:06.16 in the same event.  In the 50 freestyle Healy notched a first-place finish with a 24.29, while Pike claimed third in a time of 24.61 and Lindh posted a 25.04 to finish fifth.

Smith, Vanderbilt and Harris captured second, third and fourth in the 200 backstroke in times of 2:02.78, 2:03.96 and2:05.43, respectively. The 200 breaststroke produced the third Gator sweep of the day, led by Huff who finished first in the event with a time of 2:20.70. Drab captured second in the 200 breast with a 2:21.71, while Carusone notched a 2:22.84 to finish third.

In the 500 freestyle Nowotzin took top honors for the first time in her Gator career, leading the final event sweep of the day for the women with a 4:58.97. Pike and Guenthner finished second and third in times of 4:59.07 and 5:00.13, while Tannhauser touched the wall in 5:05.70 to claim fourth.

In one-meter diving action Alicia Miller (Hobie Sound) scored 249.07 in six dives to finish in second, while Whitney Stern (Safety Harbor) claimed fourth with 237.90 points.  Miller notched a 246.00 in the three-meter and finished fourth, as Stern took fifth and finished with a score 209.32.

Overall the women grabbed nine first-place finishes, seven of which came in the first seven events of the meet, as well as sweeps of the top three positions in four events before swimming the final three events as exhibition races.

In his first meet as a Gator, freshman Lucas Salatta (Sao Paulo, Brazil) wasted little time adjusting to his new surroundings. After enrolling in classes at Florida earlier this week, the 2004 Olympian and two-time Brazilian national champion won a pair of races against LSU and notched an NCAA provisional time in the process. Salatta’s afternoon began by winning the 200 free with a time of 1:39.73, which was the fifth-fastest time posted by a Gator swimmer this season. Later he won the 200 back in an NCAA B time of 1:45.22 to become the 11th Gator this season to make a provisional cut. Troy is excited about the mid-season addition of the freshman.

“Lucas Salatta was outstanding for us today,” said Troy. “He is going to make a real impact for us on the men’s side.”

The Gators dominated the early part of the meet, winning the first 10 events before racing exhibition during the final four. Sophomores Dustin McLarty (DeLand, Fla.), Grant Johnson (Clearwater, Fla.) and Kevin Nead (Ithaca, N.Y.) swept the top three positions in the 1,000 free for Florida. McLarty led the group with a time of 9:17.86, followed by Johnson (9:21.34) and Nead (9:23.95).

Sophomore Darian Townsend (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) and freshman Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) came down to the wire in a tight 100 backstroke race. Townsend edged Ally by three-tenths of a second with a time of 50.28. 

Senior Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) added his team-leading 12th NCAA provisional time in the 400 IM. He recorded a time of 3:49.53 during an exhibition swim. Lochte also competed in the 100 breast for the first time this season and won the race over teammate Luca DeMatteis (Naples, Italy) with a time of 55.74. DeMatteis rebounded later in the meet and won the 200 breast with a time of 2:04.28.

Freshman Jos Smith (Milledgeville, Ga.) won his first career race during a dual meet by recording a time of 46.32 in the 100 free. Smith beat LSU’s Miko Malberg by one-hundredth of a second at the finish. Junior Matt Coan (Plantation, Fla.) finished third with a time of 47.15. Sophomore Tim Hughes (Winter Park, Fla.) led a Gator sweep in the 200 fly with a time of 1:49.83. Senior Brian Hartley and sophomore J.B. Walsh (Virginia Beach, Va.) placed second and third respectively.

In the diving competition, freshman Jonathan Wilcox (Yarrow Point, Wash.) earned a second-place finish in both the one-meter and three-meter events.

Up next for the men senior Nick Borreca (Honolulu, Hawaii), Ally, Coan, DeMatteis, Hartley, Lochte, Salatta, Townsend and Wilcox will travel to the Dallas Morning News Classic, which begins Friday night and concludes on Saturday. The competition is slated to start at 7 p.m. (CT) both days. Both the men and women’s teams return to the water Jan. 20 for a tri-meet against SEC foes Alabama and Arkansas, scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium.

Women’s Results – Florida 158, LSU 140

Men’s Results – Florida 166, LSU 116