For the fourth consecutive year, the Florida women’s cross country team took the title at the Mountain Dew Invitational held at the Mark Bostick Golf Course, while the men turned in a third-place result Saturday.
The Florida women finished well ahead of the rest of the competition with a total of 88 points in the meet. The next closest teams were FIU who placed second with 148 points and North Florida with 156 points.
This year’s title marks the 12th overall time that the UF women won it all since the meet was renamed in 2005.
Jessica Pascoe led the way with her second top-10 finish on the season in a time of 17:48.60 (fourth). Lauren Perry also placed inside the top-10 with a time of 18:17.50 (ninth).
Pascoe now sits with four career top-10 finishes, while Perry picked up her third.
For the men, the Gators were paced by Blake Lowery’s time of 26:08.80 (21st). Lowery was one of five Florida men to register their first official collegiate 8k race.
The Gators will compete again at the Florida State Invitational (Oct. 6) at Apalachee Regional Park to wrap up the regular season.
Swimming and Diving: Gators lead field through Day 2
The Gator men strengthen their lead over Florida State on Day 2 of the All-Florida Invitational, leading the Seminoles 847 to 749. The women finished Day 2 with 756 points, giving them a 35-point lead over the Seminoles. The Miami women are in third place with 417 points Saturday.
The women had five competitors qualify for two finals during the Day 1 preliminary round. Savanna Faulconer swam in the 400 IM and 200 free finals, while Kelly Fertel competed in the 400 IM and 100 breast. Fertel posted a b-cut in the 400 IM preliminary round, finishing with a 4:19.23.
Emma Ball and Sherridon Dressel both qualified for the 100 fly and 100 back finals and Hannah Burns rounded out the women, competing in the 200 free and 100 breast finals.
The women claimed four individual event wins and one relay win, with Faulconer leading the way with two first-place finishes. She finished the 400 IM with a time of 4:16.01, a b-cut time, and swam a 1:50.27 in the 200 free.
Ball and Dressel each picked up an individual win as well, with Ball swimming a b-cut time of 53.50 in the 100 back. Dressel topped the 100 fly field after posting a time of 55.57, almost a second faster than her prelim.
Taylor Ault, Faulconer, Nikki Miller and Dressel claimed the top spot in the 800 free relay, finishing with a time of 7:22.91.
Caeleb Dressel, Maxime Rooney, Jan Switkowski, Clark Beach and Mark Szaranek each qualified for two individual finals, leading the way for the men. Dressel competed in 100 fly and 100 breast, while Rooney and Beach raced in the 100 back and 200 free.
Switkowski swam in the 400IM and 100 breast, while Szaranek rounded out the men with two finals, swimming in the 400 IM and 200 free.
Rooney won two individual events during Day 2’s final session, posting a b-cut time of 1:37.02 in the 200 free and a 48.93 in the 100 back.
M. Szaranek, Dressel and Stanley Wu rounded out the men who won individual events on Saturday. Szaranek finished first in the 400 IM with a time of 3:57.15 and Dressel topped the 100 fly field another b-cut time of 46.89.
Wu earned his first individual win of the season, posting a time of 55.42 in the 100 breaststroke.
The men’s team swept the relays for the second day in a row, with Michael Taylor, Wu, Switkowski and Dressel swimming a 1:28.65 in the 200 medley relay. Dressel earned another relay victory in the 800 free relay, this time alongside C. Beach, M. Szaranek and Rooney. The squad finished with a time of 6:36.59.
Brooke Madden was once again the top scorer on the women’s side for diving, recording a score of 317.93 on the 3-meter.Teya Syskakis followed closely behind, finishes in third place with a score of 309.45. Dalton Goss led the men, posting a score of 294.00 on the 1-meter board, followed by Alex Farrow in sixth with a score of 269.48.
The Gators are back in action for Day 3 beginning Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Finals will begin at 12 p.m.
Men’s tennis: UF win two doubles titles on day two of the Gator Ranked +1
The Gators found success across state lines Saturday. The Gators picked up two championships in doubles at the Gator Ranked +1 while two others made the finals in singles on Sunday. At the Ivy-Plus Invite the Gators will have the chance for two trophies on Sunday after a strong showing.
Gator Ranked +1
Doubles went as scripted for the Gators on Saturday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. UF had all three teams that entered the Gator Ranked +1 reach the semifinals and finals on the final day of doubles competition.
Duarte Vale and Alfredo Perez earned a hard fought victory in the semifinals, coming back from an early two-point deficit to rally back and defeat the second seeded duo of Giovanni Oradini and Niclas Braun of Mississippi State 8-7. Vale and Perez rolled in the finals to an 8-1 victory over fourth seeded Scott Jones and Timo Stodder of Tennessee.
The second doubles championship was won by McClain Kessler and Chase Perez-Blanco, albeit against friendly completion. The duo advanced to the finals of the Orange Draw with an 8-6 victory over Francisco Cerundolo and Gabriel Friedrich of South Carolina before being met in the finals by Johannes Ingildsen and Brandon Lancaster of Louisville. In the finals everything was clicking for Kessler and Perez-Blanco as they walked away with an 8-0 victory.
Singles play got started with Vale and Ingildsen in the semifinals of their respective brackets. Rain clouds moved into the area and halted play for an hour but when matched resumed at 3:30 p.m.the Gators never lost a beat. Vale defeated Yuval Solomon 6-4, 6-3 and Ingildsen defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-0 to advance to Sunday’s championship matches.
Perez, Kessler and Perez-Blanco each competed in the consolation brackets on Saturday. Perez had to battle back in set one to earn a hard fought 7-6 set victory. After dropping the second set 1-6 he fell behind 1-4 early in the final set but dug deep and battled back to take the set, and the match, 6-4.
Florida will close out the first tournament weekend of the fall season Sunday. In Gainesville the Gators will be competing for two singles championships starting at 9 a.m. While in New Jersey at the Ivy-Plus Invite the Gators will be competing for a total of three championships between doubles and singles starting at 8:30 a.m.
Women’s golf: Tomlinson, Esborn near top of leaderboard through round one
Through 18-holes of competition, the Gators sit tied for fourth at the Schooner Fall Classic.
At the turn, Florida was three-over-par and tied for eighth in the event. The back nine was a different story for the Gators as four players finished below par. The run helped Florida shoot up four spots on the leaderboard carding a day one score of 284 (E).
For the second straight event, the Gators have a player in contention on the individual leaderboard. Senior Taylor Tomlinson sits just one stroke back of the lead after posting a 68 (-3) on the first day.
Redshirt freshman Elin Esborn would join her in red numbers posting a first round score of 70 (-1). Esborn currently sits T14 with four other competitors. This is the third time this season that Esborn has had a below par round as she had two in the Ocean Course Invitational earlier in September.
Second round play will continue Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as Esborn will be the first of the Gators to tee off.
Soccer: Gators host Alabama
No. 6 Florida looks to jump back in the win column at 6 p.m. today against Alabama at Pressly Stadium. Admission is free for all Gator soccer regular-season matches.
The Gators (7-2-0, 1-1 SEC) are coming off a 2-1 loss at Texas A&M on Thursday.
Junior Emma Welch leads the Tide (8-2-1, 1-0-1) with 10 points off of two goals and six assists. Junior Abbie Boswell and freshman Taylor Morgan’s three goals each leads Alabama.
Volleyball: Gators open SEC play at Arkansas
No. 3 Florida (8-0) opens its Southeastern Conference schedule in the same place it clinched the program’s 22nd conference title last November, as it travels to face Arkansas (11-2, 1-0 SEC) at 2 p.m. today.
The Gators are coming off their fourth win over a ranked opponent this season, which tied them with Northern Iowa for the national lead. Florida swpt No. 19 Florida State on Tuesday.
