Florida Dominates Dives in Day Three of SEC Play
After three days of competition in Knoxville, Tennessee, the SEC Swim and Dive Championships have reached the halfway point. Wednesday was full of highlights for the Gators, with two more individual champions and lots of celebrating.
Sophomores Anita Bottazzo and Jesus Gonzalez earned wins in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 3-meter dive to lead the Gators. Bottazzo reclaimed the SEC title with a personal best time (57.11), while Gonzalez struck gold in the finals, earning his first individual SEC title with an overall score of 423.05.
Junior Catie Choate led the Gators in the women’s 100-meter backstroke with a third-place finish, followed by junior Carly Meeting (17th), freshman Zuri Ferguson (20th) and sophomore Aspen Gersper (22nd).
On the men’s side, junior Jonny Marshall, the back-to-back title holder, qualified for his third consecutive finals after finishing in fourth, with junior Scotty Buff (7th), junior Caleb Maldari (19th), and sophomore Aiden Norman (20th) joining him.
In the evening race, Florida fell short of the podium with both Choate and Marshall each notching fourth place. In addition to Buff, they scored team points for the Gators with their top-16 finishes from the day.
The 200-meter butterfly featured four Gators: junior Lainy Kruger, sophomore Addison Reese, and redshirt sophomore Michaela Mattes for the women and sophomore Matthew Cairns for the men. Kruger, Reese, and Cairns all landed among the top-24 finishers after the prelims. It marked another event without any Gator medalists, but each one of them contributed toward team scoring.
Already an NCAA qualifier in the event, Bottazzo posted a time of 57.78 in the 100-meter breaststroke, leading all swimmers in the preliminary round. As for the men, senior Koen de Groot’s time of 50.72 put him in second.
Junior Molly Mayne, senior Anna Moore and junior Grace Rainey advanced to the finals alongside Bottazzo. De Groot, senior Aleksas Savickas, freshman Nil Cadevall and freshman Jordan Willis moved on for Florida.
de Groot secured a silver medal, finishing as the runner-up to Texas’ junior Nate Germonprez. His time, 50.22, makes it the third-fastest time in program history for the event.
Florida’s men’s divers junior Conor Gesing, sophomore Jesus Gonzalez, and freshman Jesus Agundez competed on boards for the men’s three-meter dive. Though Agundez fell out of the top 16 with a final score of 322.35, Gesing and Gonzalez finished the preliminary round of the event in fourth and seventh, respectively.
In his fourth dive, Gonzalez received an 85.75, that set him up for victory in the event. Gesing, the 2024 three-meter SEC champion, ended with a sixth-place finish.
It was all smiles from Gonzalez as he stood atop the podium with his medal on an unforgettable night.
The Gators remained in the top 3 at Wednesday’s close. Tennessee leads the men’s programs, with Texas in second sitting only 4.5 points ahead of Florida.
On the women’s side, the Longhorns remain in first, with the Gators only 8.5 points behind and easily in range to take the top spot.
Thursday’s individual swimming prelims will begin at 9:30 a.m. Senior Olympic silver medalist Josh Liendo looks to finish his collegiate career with his fourth-straight SEC title in the 100 butterfly and clutch his second medal of the 2026 conference championships.
The 400 IM and 200 free events will follow, along with women’s three-meter dives. In the evening, finals will take place at 5:30 p.m. in addition to the 400-medley relay.
Category: Gators in Olympics, Gators Swimming and Diving, Olympics, SEC
