The No. 4 University of Florida men’s swimming and diving team notched one title, three third-place finishes, four NCAA automatic qualifying times, and seven provisional times in the second day of competition to hold onto its second-place team standing at the Southeastern Conference Championships Thursday in Knoxville, Tenn. The No. 5 Gator women improved their day one placing to move up to fourth during the second day of competition, with one third-place finish, one automatic time and 10 provisional marks for the day.

Senior Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach) notched the first individual SEC title for the Gators by defending his 200 individual medley crown, which he captured at the SEC and NCAA meets in 2005. Lochte’s automatic time of 1:43.31 broke the previous Student Aquatic Center record, and was not only his personal best of the season, but also the best time in the event for the Gators. Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale) joined Lochte on the medal stand with a third-place finish in the same event and an automatic and career-best time of 1:45.36.

In the B final of the 200 IM freshman Lucas Salatta (Sao Paulo, Brazil) notched a provisional time of 1:48.50 to claim sixth in his heat, after he posted his season best in the prelim of the event with a 1:47.88.

Vipa Bernhardt (Bad Hersfeld, Germany) reached the medal stand for the Gator women following her third-place performance in the 200 individual medley, where she notched an NCAA automatic time of 1:59.38, a new career best. Ashley Carusone (Gainesville) also recorded a career-best in the B final of the 200 IM with a provisional time of 2:00.79 to take the top spot in her heat. Candace Weiman (Castro Valley, Calif.) finished fourth in the B final with a provisional time of 2:02.34.

In the 200 IM C final, Jamie Reid (Orlando) notched a season-best provisional time of 2:03.11, while Natalie Pike (Boca Raton) recorded her best time ever in the event with a provisional 2:03.84.

The Gators sent the most swimmers of any school to the finals heats in the men’s 500 freestyle, with three in the championship final, as senior Brian Hartley (Indianapolis, Ind.), sophomore Tobias Work (Falmouth, Mass.) and sophomore Grant Johnson (Clearwater) made the cut. Hartley notched an NCAA automatic time of 4:19.44, also his career best, to take third-place in the event, while Work posted his best time of the season with a 4:19.50, also an automatic time, to finish in fourth. Johnson claimed fifth place in a provisional 4:23.56, after putting up his career best in the prelims with a 4:21.52.

In the B final of the men’s 500 free Max Jaben (Overland Park, Kan.) recorded his career-best time with a 4:22.34, also a provisional mark. Matt Coan (Plantation) and Kevin Nead (Ithaca, N.Y.) each competed for the Gators in the C final of the 500 free, as Coan took first in the heat with a career-best time of 4:25.18. Nead posted a 4:29.90, following a season best performance in the preliminary event when he notched a 4:29.25.

Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) made an appearance in the championship final of the women’s 50 freestyle for the Gators, where she notched a 23.03 to take sixth-place. In the prelim of the event Vollmer punched her ticket to NCAA’s with an automatic time of 22.88, also her season-best.

In the men’s one-meter diving finals Justin Schmidt (Falcon, Colo.) recorded a career-best score of 293.15 to claim sixth place, improving his prelim score of 281.40. Diving coach Donnie Craine was happy to see one of his young divers reach the finals for the second day in a row.

“Justin Schmidt did a great job,” said Craine. “He’s a junior and it was his first final ever at the SEC Championships. He’s been working hard this season, trying to get better and better and it paid off for him today. Hopefully we can come back tomorrow and have another steady performance in platform.”

In the B final of the women’s 500 freestyle sophomore Kim Larson (Longwood) led a contingent of four Gator swimmers as she notched an NCAA provisional time of 4:46.05 to finish second. Larson’s mark is not only a career best, but also the best time by a Gator this season in the 500 free. Sophomore Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.), the SEC record-holder in the event, posted a 4:46.07 to finish third in the B final of the 500 free. Freshmen Stephanie Cota (Granite Bay, Calif.) and Laurabeth Guenthner (Wellington) finished fifth and sixth in the 500 free in provisional times of 4:50.74 and 4:51.43, respectively. Guenthner’s mark was her career-best in the event.

Daniel Penniman (Pensacola) competed in the B final for the Gators in the men’s 50 freestyle, where he put up a provisional time of 20.17 to finish fourth in his heat. Penniman’s prelim provisional time of 20.02 was a new career best for the sophomore. In the C final of the same event Nick Borreca (Honolulu, Hawaii) posted a season-best provisional time of 20.25, while Darian Townsend (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) notched a 20.41.

The men’s 200 freestyle relay team of Borreca, Townsend, Penniman and Ally notched a third-place finish in a provisional time of 1:19.24, the best time of the season for the Gators. On the women’s side the quartet of Vollmer, Burckle, Colleen Healy (Cape Coral) and Pike posted a provisional time of 1:32.80, which broke the Student Aquatic Center record and gave the women a sixth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. Head coach Gregg Troy was pleased with the performance of his team in the evening finals, but disappointed more swimmers didn’t qualify during the morning preliminary events.

“I was really proud of the way they swam this evening,” said Troy. “They showed a lot of character because we weren’t good at all this morning. We had a very, very average morning and it hurt us a little in the team scores because we didn’t have the number of people make finals that should have qualified to score for us. The ones that did get the chance to come back tonight did much better, had better attitudes and just raced better than this morning.”

The Gators return to SEC action Friday for the third day of the Championships with preliminary events in the morning at 10 a.m. and finals in the evening beginning at 5 p.m. at the Student Aquatic Center. Up-to-the minute results can be seen via live scoring  by visiting http://68.156.229.10/~other/swim/06sec/. A full recap, scoring summary and quotes from Gator finals swimmers will be available following the conclusion of the finals at www.gatorzone.com.

Day Two Finals Event Winners

Day Two Prelim Event Winners

Men’s Standings Following Day Two Finals

Women’s Standings Following Day Two Finals

SEC Championships Schedule:

Friday, Feb. 17, 2006

Preliminary Competition

10 a.m.             400y IM

                        100y Butterfly

                        200y Freestyle

                        100y Breaststroke

                        100y Backstroke

                        400y Medley Relay – Time Trial

1 p.m.               Men’s Platform Diving prelims

Finals Competition

6 p.m.               400y IM Final

                        100y Butterfly Final

                        200y Freestyle Final

                        100y Breaststroke Final

                        100y Backstroke Final

                        Men’s Platform Diving Final

                        400y Medley Realy – Timed Final

*Events are both men’s and women’s at scheduled time, unless otherwise noted.

-UF-