GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 5/8 Florida men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs each had successful outings on Friday.

The swim team opened the new year with a dual-meet sweep over No. 14/12 LSU, as the men defeated the Tigers 156-105, while the women won 174-87 at the Stephen C. ‘Connell Center Natatorium.

Three days of diving action at the Tennessee Diving Invitational came to a close, as the Gators finished the day with four top-three finishes on both platform events at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

Geaux Gators 🧹🧹

Presented by @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/vrbwLkML9U

— Gators Swimming & Diving (@GatorsSwimDv) January 9, 2026

Swimming:
As a program, the Gators recorded eight events sweeps, 1,000y free, 200y free, 100y breast, 200y back, 200y breast, 500y free, 100y free and 200 IM. Overall, Florida grabbed the top spot in 19 events, with 13 names tallying at least one win.
 
The women’s team opened the meet with six consecutive event victories as eight Gators combined for 11 first-place finishes. Florida opened with win in the 200y medley relay, as Catie Choate, Anita Bottazzo, Beatriz Bezerra and Addison Reese touched first in 1:38.79. Julie Brousseau followed with a victory in the 1,000y free (9:47.47), while Camille DeBoer secured second (10:01.38). Lainy Kruger claimed the 200y free title in 1:48.60, before Choate earned her first individual win of the meet in the 100y back with a time of 52.76, finishing ahead of Zuri Ferguson in second (54.19). Bottazzo and Molly Mayne went one-two in the 100y breast, highlighted by Bottazzo’s NCAA cut time of 59.35, while Mayne finished second in 1:01.79. Reese added another victory for the Gators in the 200y fly (1:59.75), with Kruger placing second (2:01.72). Choate completed a sweep of the backstroke events with an NCAA cut time of 1:54.52 in the 200y back, as JoJo Ramey, Ferguson and Grace Rabb followed in second, third and fourth. Mayne won the 200y breast (2:14.21), while Brousseau and Kruger earned their second wins of the meet in the 500y free (4:49.42) and 100y fly (54.71), respectively. Rabb closed out the individual events with a victory in the 200y IM, touching the wall in 2:01.99.

On the men’s side, five Gators combined for eight event victories and accounted for 72 points through second and third place finishes. Gio Linscheer, Aleksas Savickas and Eric Brown each recorded two individual wins, while Josh Liendo and Aiden Norman added one apiece. Linscheer swept the distance freestyle events, posting winning times of 4:24.76 in the 500y free and 9:07.30 in the 1,000y free. Brown earned first in the 200y free (1:38.10) and the 200y IM (1:48.57), while Savickas claimed both breaststroke events with first-place times of 52.52 in the 100y breast and 1:59.19 in the 200y breast. Liendo cruised to a win in the 100y free by more than two seconds with a time of 46.38 and Norman secured a victory in the 200y back (1:44.15).

 

Koen de Groot made his Gator debut with a runner-up finish in the 100y breast (54.53) and competed in both relay events. He swam the breast leg of the men’s 200y medley relay alongside Norman, Matt Cairns and Devin Dilger, which finished third in 1:28.89. De Groot also helped close out the meet as part of the men’s 200y free relay with Marvin Johnson Jr., Paul Dardis and Ahmed Jaouadi, earning a second-place finish in 1:22.04.

 

Hear from Head Coach Anthony Nesty

“We had some strong individual performances and it was nice to celebrate our seniors and recognize everything they’ve meant to this program. Now the focus shifts to cleaning up the details as we head into next week’s dual meet at Auburn, while continuing to prepare ourselves for the postseason.”

 

Prior to the event, Florida honored the careers of eight Gator swimmers. This senior class has accounted for 36 All-American honors, 35 Top-10 program times, 17 SEC titles and 12 national titles and four SEC Championships. Two seniors represented their country at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with one earning a silver medal. In the classroom, this group has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll 19 times as well as have had over 10 C-S-C-A-A Scholar All-American accolades.

Diving
The women claimed the top two spots on the platform, led by Camyla Monroy’s winning score of 260.40 to secure her second victory of the week. The junior previously captured the one-meter title and added a second-place finish on the three-meter. Casey Greenberg followed in second with a score of 248.00, while Alexa Fung capped a strong invitational by placing seventh (202.85). Ava Brinkman rounded out the Gators’ efforts with a 12th-place finish after scoring 185.75.
 
On the men’s side, Jesus Gonzalez and Elisha Dees finished second and third, respectively. Gonzalez recorded a score of 350.35 for second place, while Dees followed in third with a 331.85. Conor Gesing placed eighth with a score of 286.85 and Jesus Agundez finished ninth after posting a 282.70.
 
Hear from Head Diving Coach Bryan Gillooly
“Excellent final day for us. I feel like we are right where we want to be. Our competition lists are all set and now we just have to fine tune over the next 5-6 weeks. We know exactly what we need to do and now it’s just time to execute.”
 
Up Next
The Gators return to action on Friday, Jan. 16 when they travel to Auburn, Alabama to face the Auburn Tigers. The conference dual meet will begin at 12 p.m. ET and can be followed along on the meet mobile app.
 
Stay Connected

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