Gator’s current too strong as men’s swimming falls to Florida

While the Golden Gophers failed to earn enough points to capture the win, the home team managed first place finishes in four events beginning with senior Derek Toomey in the 50-meter freestyle; he clocked a time of 20.07.

This marks back-to-back first place finishes for the co-captain in this event. Toomey’s time of 19.99 in the 50 freestyle last week against Arizona State still holds as the top time in Division I this season. Both swims come in under the NCAA B-cut qualifying time.

Minnesota’s success continued with fellow senior Kyle Van Swol touching the wall first in the 100 meter butterfly with a time of 48.55. He also swam to a third place finish in the 200 meter butterfly (1:48.84) just behind teammate Nick Orf (1:48.26).

As a team, the Golden Gophers closed the meet in impressive fashion winning the 400-meter freestyle relay. The aforementioned upperclassmen joined freshman stand out Daryl Turner and Carl Newenhouse in this event. This fast foursome clocked a time of 2:59.64.

Perhaps though, the most consistent performance of the dual occurred three meters above water. Sophomore diver Dylan Zoe earned his first win of the season finishing atop the event standings with 340.58 total points while his teammates also stepped up allowing Minnesota to take four of the top fives spots in this event.

In the one meter platform, the Maroon and Gold took second and third place with Manny Pollard and Dylan Zoe earning point totals of 339.75 and 332.03, respectively.

Next up for Minnesota is the border battle as they head for Madison to open conference play against the University of Wisconsin on October 18-19 at 6 p.m. CT.