Georgia Travels to Florida for Annual Rivalry Meet

Thursday, October 26

Gainesville, Fla.

5 p.m.

University of Georgia

Florida

October 26, 2023 | Swimming & Diving, Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

ATHENS, Ga. – The University of Georgia swimming and diving teams return to the road for its annual meet against defending SEC champions Florida Thursday evening and Friday morning at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville.

The meet opens with women's 1-meter and men's 3-meter diving on Thursday at 5 p.m., followed by the full meet on Friday at 11 a.m. The meet is not being streamed, but live results will be available to paid subscribers on the MeetMobile app.

The 13^th-ranked Georgia women (3-0) face off against the seventh-ranked Gators after earning victories in their first three dual meets. In the 189-109 win over Georgia Tech on Oct. 11, the Bulldogs earned 12 wins on their way to a third-consecutive victory, led by an outstanding performance from the Bulldogs' distance group. Junior Duné Coetzee picked up wins in the 200y (1:47.06) and 500y (4:42.29) freestyle, posting the second-fastest time in nation in the 500 behind teammate Rachel Stege. Fellow teammate Abby McCulloh dominated the 1,000y freestyle with a time of 9:44.80. Senior Sloane Reinstein (50y freestyle – 23.19) and freshman Helena Jones (100y freestyle – 49.25) finished off a freestyle sweep, with Jones notching a B-cut in the process.

At the diving well, senior Meghan Wenzel remained unbeaten on the season with a springboard sweep, posting Zone cuts on both 1-meter (295.46) and 3-meter (299.70). Sophomore Hannah Stumpf also qualified for Zones on 1-meter with a mark of 275.40. In other victories, the Bulldogs swept the backstroke as graduate Millie Sansome won the 100y at 54.72, while fifth-year Zoie Hartman took the 200y with a time of 1:57.70. Finally, in the 100y butterfly, sophomore Olivia Della Torre was victorious with a time of 55.73.

On the men's side, Georgia (1-2) tallied 13 wins in a 198-100 meet victory, led by two apiece from fifth-year Ian Grum and senior Jake Magahey. In his final dual meet before traveling to the Pan-American Games, Grum won the 200y butterfly with a time of 1:45.90, missing a B-cut by one-hundredth of a second, before picking up the provisional cut with a winning 1:43.04 in the 200y backstroke. Magahey was strong in the distance events, winning the 1,000y freestyle at 9:00.79, before pulling out a victorious 4:25.09 in the 500y free.

In other freestyle events, Georgia remained on top, with graduate Dillon Downing (50y freestyle), sophomore Ruard van Renen (100y freestyle), and freshman Tomas Koski (200y freestyle) all touching first. Koski joined teammates Steven Insixiengmay (100y breaststroke) and Jackson Bates (200y breaststroke) in earning their first career victories. Elsewhere, graduate Bradley Dunham won the 100y backstroke with a time of 47.30, while senior Wesley Ng took the 100y butterfly in his season debut and fifth-year Zach Hils prevailed in the 200y IM.

In diving, all four Bulldogs secured their spots at Zones with terrific outings on the springboards. On 1-meter, junior Rhett Hopkins qualified with a second-place score of 329.25, while fellow junior Nolan Lewis picked up a Zone cut at 315.08. Later, on 3-meter, freshman Matthew Bray reached his goal with a third-place mark of 347.70, with junior Allen Mann joining Hopkins and Lewis in notching cuts.

Following the Florida meet, the Bulldogs will remain on the road next week, traveling to Raleigh to take on NC State next weekend. The two-day meet will feature a long-course competition against NCSU and Duke on Friday, Nov. 3 followed by a traditional short-course meet with the Wolfpack on Saturday, Nov. 4.

For all news and updates about Georgia swimming and diving, follow the Bulldogs on Twitter (@UGASwimDive), Instagram (@ugaswimdive), and Facebook (UGA Swimming and Diving).