The No. 4 University of Florida women’s swimming and diving team notched a pair of wins over Alabama and Arkansas in Southeastern Conference action Friday afternoon at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium. The Gators downed the Crimson Tide 79-60, and bested the Razorbacks 91-42 in the double dual meet to move to 9-1 overall and 4-1 in the SEC for the season.

In the 200 medley relay the team of Samantha Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.), Vipa Bernhardt (Bad Hersfeld, Germany), Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) and Natalie Pike (Boca Raton, Fla.) notched a 1:42.98 to take top honors in the event. In her first appearance of the season in the 1000 freestyle, Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) captured first place and posted a time of 10:03.94, while Laurie Moreau (Largo) finished third in the same event with a time of 10:16.84.

Kim Larson (Longwood, Fla.) posted a top finish in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:50.79, the fourth fastest time in the event by a Gator this season, and Kristin Gilliam (Gainesville) posted a 1:52.30 in the same event to finish in third place. In the 100 backstroke Jamie Reid (Orlando) notched the second best time of the season by a Gator in the event with a 56.53, while Colleen Healy (Cape Coral) finished second with a time of 57.47.

Amanda Hartley (Tallahassee) finished the 100 breaststroke ahead of the competition with a 1:05.10 to take first-place honors, while Caroline Drab (Lund, Sweden) notched a 1:06.02 to finish third. In the 200 butterfly Mandy Huff (Gold Hill, N.C.) and Jenny Lago (Wellington) finished second and third in times of 2:02.63 and 2:04.99, respectively.

Burckle posted her second first-place finish of the meet in the 50 freestyle in a time of 24.16, while Pike took third in the same event with a time of 24.24. In the diving competition Alicia Miller (Hobie Sound, Fla.) took third place in the three-meter with a season and team-high score of 271.00. Whitney Stern (Safety Harbor) finished fourth in same event with a 236.40, while Jeana Bartell (Boca Raton) notched a 227.15 to take fifth. In the one-meter event the same trio of freshman Gator divers finished third, fourth and fifth as Miller posted a 238.25 for third, Bartell finished in fourth with a 222.40 and Stern captured fifth with a score of 202.65.

Candace Weiman (Castro Valley, Calif.) made her individual event debut in the competition with a first-place finish in the 100 freestyle and a provisional 50.93 time. Jennie Lindh (Kalmar, Sweden) took third in the same event with a 53.09.

Kelsy Smith (Cary, N.C.) and Kristen Harris (Holmdel, N.J.) completed a one-two sweep in the 200 backstroke, with times of 2:02.49 and 2:04.52, respectively. Hartley finished out the 200 breaststroke in second place with a 2:21.52, while Pike notched a fourth-place finish in the same event in a time of 2:28.82.

Bernhardt took first-place and posted a provisional time of 4:53.11 in her first appearance of the season in the 500 freestyle. Nicole Allfrey (Noblesville, Ind.) finished second in the 20-lap race with a 4:59.69. Florida head swimming coach Gregg Troy had positive things to say about the performances on the women’s sidefollowing the SEC competition.

“Vipa Bernardt showed some great background and great training today,” said Troy. “Some of our younger girls stood up really well and Jamie Reid was really good in the backstroke. We had a lot of people down the line that swam well. We saw some people that don’t get a chance to race very often. We were looking to improve our racing skills and go head-to-head against good people. The team scores are nice, but what we want to do this time of year is just get better.”

Next up the Gator women suit up for a dual meet against No. 2 Auburn Saturday, January 21 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium. The swimming portion of the meet is slated to begin at 1 p.m., while the one-meter diving competition will start at 11 a.m. Complete results from Friday’s double dual meet are available at www.gatorzone.com.

Women’s Results

Florida 79, Alabama 60 – Florida 91, Arkansas 42