In Southeastern Conference swimming and diving action the No. 7 Florida men’s team (8-3, 4-1) dropped its first SEC dual meet of the season, 152-148, against rival Auburn by the narrowest margin during head coach Gregg Troy’s tenure at Florida. The No. 4 Florida women’s team was bested by the No. 2 Tigers as well, 178-120, to move to 9-2 for the season and 4-2 in the SEC. A total of 15 swims on the men’s side and 20 on the women’s notched NCAA provisional times, while a trio of Gators earned NCAA automatic times Saturday afternoon at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Natatorium.

Auburn took the early lead when the team of Doug Van Wie, David Maras, Alexei Puninski, and Cesar Cielo by winning the 200 MR in a time of 1:28.63. Florida’s team of Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.), Nick Borreca (Honolulu, Hawaii), Lucas Salatta (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Darian Townsend (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) recorded the Gators fastest time in the event this season in an NCAA B time of 1:28.87.

Sophomore Max Jaben (Overland Park, Kan.) was one of the many young Gators to make an impact during Saturday’s meet. Jaben earned his first NCAA provisional time in the 1650 free after recording a career-best time of 15:09.93 to win the event. Jaben surpassed teammate Tobias Work (Falmouth, Mass) for the best time in the event this season by a full six seconds. Work placed second during Saturday’s race with an NCAA B time of 15:17.89.

Salatta did his part to keep the Gators on track with a pair of strong performances in the backstroke. He won the 100 back with a career-best time of 47.76. Later in the competition he earned his first automatic NCAA qualifying time by placing second in the 200 back with a time of 1:43.25. Lochte, who already earned an A qualifying time in the 200 back earlier this year, did it again and the won the race against Auburn by lowering his season-best time to 1:40.11.

In one of the more surprising developments of the afternoon, sophomore Tim Hughes (Winter Park, Fla.) tangled with Lochte to take second-place in the 200 fly. Hughes earned his first career NCAA provisional time (1:46.80) and defeated Auburn’s Eric Shanteau, who holds the Tigers best time in the event. Lochte won the race to remain undefeated in dual meet races this season.

Hughes helped the Gators again by holding off Auburn’s Puninski during the 100 fly to earn third place with a season-best time of 48.92. Lochte and Salatta finished ahead of Hughes to complete the Gator sweep.           

With the Orange and Blue trailing by a small margin after the first diving break, a group of underclassmen helped Florida pull ahead. Jaben ignited the comeback by winning the 500 free race with a career-best time of 4:25.33, which earned him his second NCAA provisional time of the meet. Senior Brian Hartley (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Work rounded out the Gator sweep by taking second and third place.

Freshman Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and sophomore Luca DeMatteis (Naples, Italy) earned the Gators valuable points by placing second and third in the 200 breast. Ally recorded a career-best time of 1:59.15, while DeMatteis turned in a season-best time of 1:59.78. Both times were good enough to earn an NCAA B cut.

Auburn’s Steven Segerlin swept both the one-meter and three-meter diving events for the Tigers. He earned a 335.03 on the one-meter dive and 394.80 on the three-meter dive to help the Tigers pull within striking distance.

The outcome of the competition was decided in the final two races, the 400 IM and the 400 free relay. Florida sophomores Kevin Nead (Ithaca, N.Y.) and Ally both recorded NCAA B times in the 400 IM, but it was not enough to overcome Shanteau during the final 100 yards of the race. Nead recorded a time of 3:51.13 to finish second, while Ally placed third with a time of 3:53.24.

With the competition on the line, Auburn overcame an 11-point deficit by winning the 400 FR with a thrilling comeback performance. Auburn’s George Bovell caught up to Hartley during the final 100 yard leg of the race to give the Tigers the 11 points they needed for the win. Auburn’s team of Cielo, Bryan Lundquist, Van Wie and Scott Goodrich placed second to seal the victory.

“We knew we had to put it away before the last relay because they have so many great swimmers,” Florida head coach Gregg Troy said, “I can’t complain though. I thought the weekend was good overall, and it was a little disappointing to not bring this one home, but we had a chance to put them away and just ran out of juice.”

The Florida women’s team notched 20 NCAA provisional qualifying times of its own against Auburn, the most it’s recorded in a single meet this season. In addition, Jamie Reid (Orlando) became the third Gator on the women’s side to post an NCAA automatic qualifying time, punching her ticket to the Big Meet in March. Reid’s time of 1:57.71 in the 200 backstroke undercut the qualifying time by nearly a half second, she joins Candace Weiman (Castro Valley, Calif.) and Vipa Bernhardt (Bad Hersfeld, Germany) as the trio of A-qualifying time swimmers so far for the Orange and Blue.

The Gators started out the meet on top, as the quartet of Samantha Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.), Bernhardt, Weiman and Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) notched a B time of 1:41.41, a new season best for the event, to finish in first place. Laurabeth Guenthner (Wellington) posted a B time and personal best in the 1650 freestyle to finish third in the event, while Kim Larson (Longwood, Fla.) took fourth with a B time of 16:46.02.

The fourth NCAA provisional time of the afternoon was scored by Natalie Pike (Boca Raton, Fla.), who finished third in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:49.95. Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) and Silke Nowotzin (Essen, Germany) finished close behind in fourth and fifth place in clockings of 1:50.45 and 1:51.08, respectively. Vanderbilt posted the second-fastest time of the season in the 100 backstroke with a 55.91, good enough for third place and an NCAA provisional mark.

Bernhardt and Weiman each finished in first place with the fastest times of the season in the next two events of the meet, to keep the Gator women within striking distance. Bernhardt’s B time of 1:01.74 in the 100 breaststroke was not only just four hundredths of a second shy of automatically qualifying her for NCAA’s, it also earned her a no-contest victory, as the closest Tiger challenger came in a full second and a half behind. Weiman crushed the competition as well, finishing the 200 butterfly with a provisional 1:58.35, more than a second ahead of the second-place Auburn finisher.

The Gators gained some ground in the diving events as Alicia Miller (Hobie Sound, Fla.), Jeana Bartell (Boca Raton) and Whitney Stern (Safety Harbor) took second, third and fourth in the three-meter competition with scores of 262.95, 248.77 and 231.08, respectively. The one-meter event, held before the meet began, gave the Orange and Blue an automatic edge as Miller took first with a score of 246.00, Bartell notched third with a score of 227.47 and Stern rounded out the diving trio with 222.15 points, to finish in fourth-place.

Vollmer notched a pair of provisional qualifying times in the 50 and 100 freestyle events. She notched a 23.50 to claim second in the 50, and posted the third-best time of the season in the 100 freestyle with a 50.73.

Another pair of victories followed in the meet, as Reid posted her first A-time of the season, also the top 200 backstroke time for the Gators, with a 1:57.71, nearly two seconds ahead of the closest Auburn swimmer. Next, Bernhardt posted a B-time of 2:14.45 to take top honors in the 200 breaststroke.

Guenthner and Larson each notched NCAA provisional times in the 500 freestyle with times of 4:52.49 and 4:52.50, respectively, as Weiman continued her domination in the butterfly events with a first-place finish in the 100 in a time of 53.76, also a B-time. In the final individual event of the meet, six of the eight competitors in the 400 individual medley notched provisional qualifying times, including a trio of Gator women in Bernhardt, Carusone and Reid.

The 400 freestyle relay saw Vollmer, Weiman, Pike and Burckle produce a provisional time, as well as the third-best time of the season, with their 3:24.51 clocking.

Overall, in the meet the Gator women recorded a total of 13 times that took over a top three spot on the season’s fastest times chart, including six that were the number one fastest time of the season in their respective events. In addition, eight Florida women posted either an NCAA A or B cut every time they entered the water to race against Auburn, including in their relays; this list includes: Guenthner, Larson, Pike, Bernhardt, Weiman, Reid, Carusone and Vollmer. In spite of the loss to Auburn, Troy remained optimistic there were still valuable lessons the Gator women could take away from the meet.

“We had our opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them,” said Troy. “But at the same time we swam really well. We have some areas we could be a little better at, like not being sloppy around the walls. But there are several swimmers who got a chance to see where they need to be before we head into the SECs.”

Next up the Gators return to the water when they travel to Knoxville, Tenn. on Jan. 28 for a 4 p.m. SEC contest against the Volunteers. Complete results from Friday’s double dual meet are available at www.gatorzone.com.

Men’s Results

Auburn 152, Florida 148

Women’s Results

Auburn, 178 – Florida, 120