Florida Men’s 800 Free Relay Breaks Records At SEC Championships

The Florida men’s 800 freestyle relay team broke four records Tuesday night at Gabrielsen Natatorium, in Athens, Ga., securing their fourth-consecutive Southeastern Conference title in the event.

Alexander Painter, Josh Liendo, Julian Smith and Jake Mitchell posted a time of 6:02.50, setting program, SEC, SEC Championship, and pool records.

The record-breaking performance finished an impressive night for the Gators at the SEC Swimming & Diving Championships, where Florida won medals in all five events. The men’s team, in fourth place with 152 points, also earned silver in the 200 medley relay and men’s 3-meter diving. On the women’s side, Florida is in second place with 140 points after securing bronze in both the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay.

Dominant Relay Performances

The women’s 200 medley relay team of Catie Choate, Anita Bottazzo, Olivia Peoples and Micayla Cronk claimed third place with a time of 1:34.34, marking the third-fastest time in school history and earning an NCAA A-cut qualification.

On the men’s side, Jonny Marshall led off the 200 medley relay, followed by Smith, Scotty Buff and Ed Fullum-Huot. Their time of 1:20.66 secured second place, marking the second-fastest performance in Florida history and another NCAA A-cut time.

In the women’s 800 free relay, freshman Julie Brousseau made her SEC Championships debut with a 1:44.18 leadoff split. Sophomore Bella Sims delivered the fastest split of the night at 1:39.55, while senior swimmers Emma Weyant and Cronk helped secure the bronze with a final time of 6:56.56, the second-fastest in program history.

The men’s 800 free relay team stole the show. Painter’s leadoff split of 1:31.21 ranked as the third-fastest 200 free time in program history. Liendo followed with a 1:30.19 split, Smith delivered a career-best 1:29.67, and Mitchell anchored in 1:31.43 to clinch gold, breaking the previous program record of 6:06.36 set in 2024.

Individual Success in Diving

In men’s 3-meter diving, Conor Gesing finished second with a season-best score of 417.25, adding to his gold medal from last year’s SEC Championships.

Looking Ahead

Day three of the SEC Championships continues Wednesday with the first individual swimming events, including the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free preliminaries at 9:30 a.m. The women’s 3-meter diving prelims will follow, with the 200 free relay events scheduled for 5:30 p.m. before the finals.

All preliminaries and finals can be streamed live on SEC Network+, with live results available on @GatorsSwimDV socials, Dive Meet and Meet Mobile.