No. 5 Men's Swimming Set to Welcome Purdue, IRCC
Thursday, January 3, 2008 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The University of Florida No. 5 ranked men's and No. 7 ranked women's swimming and diving teams will kick off the second half of the season this weekend as they welcome Purdue, Arkansas and Indian River Community College to the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
The Florida men will face No. 12 Purdue Friday evening beginning at 7:00 p.m. and will conclude the meet, along with IRCC (3-1) on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The women's team will face Arkansas (4-1) on Saturday as part of a tri-meet with IRCC (3-2) as well. Friday the meet will feature a 16-event order with two heats of each event and Saturday will feature 13 events with two heats of each.
Florida's divers will compete at the 2007 Georgia Invitational in Athens, Ga. The men and women will face Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, Kentucky, Arkansas, Purdue, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Virginia, North Carolina, East Carolina, Drexel, Clemson and SMU. The meet will take a similar format as the SEC, Zone and NCAA Championship meets. Preliminaries will kick off at noon on Thursday and Friday for the spring board competition with finals following at 2:00 p.m. Saturday the divers will take to the platform for one round. Georgia will also hold a shootout for the meet's top six divers at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
Florida enters this weekend holding a 5-1 record on both the men's and women's side. The men enter with a 2-0 Southeastern Conference record, having defeated Georgia and Kentucky while the women hold a 1-1 record, defeating Kentucky and falling to Georgia.
One of the nation's most dominate junior colleges in IRCC will also join the fun this weekend. IRCC is the reigning NJCAA National Champion. Florida holds a 21-0 advantage on the men's side and is 24-2 all-time against IRCC on the women's end. Last season, both the men and women came away with victories, with the men claiming a 147-90 win and the women swimming off with a 141-83 victory.
For the women, this will be the third time in the history of the two programs that Florida and Arkansas have faced. The last time these two teams faced was during the 2005-06 season as part of a tri-meet with Alabama, with Florida coming out on top, 91-42. The last time the Gators and Lady 'Backs hit the pool, seniors Natalie Pike (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Samantha Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.) were part of the first-place 200-yard medley relay team that finished with at time of 1:42.98. Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) swam her way to two wins during the meet, including a first place finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Kim Larson (Longwood, Fla.) capped the victories for the then-sophomores, winning the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.79.
On the men's side, Florida will take on Purdue for just the second time in a dual or tri-meet. The Gators and Boilermakers faced earlier this season at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind. where Purdue raced back to finish first in their home pool. Florida finished fifth at the meet, led by a 1-2-3 sweep in the 1,650 freestyle on the meet's final day. Ryan Crete (Sarasota, Fla.), Cody Kauffman (Harrisburg, Pa.) and Joey Pedraza (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) combined for the sweep, marking the first time during the course of the three day meet that the Gators held two or more of the top spots on the leader board.
One of the nation's most dominate junior colleges in IRCC will also join the fun this weekend. IRCC is the reigning NJCAA National Champion. Florida holds a 21-0 advantage on the men's side and is 24-2 all-time against IRCC on the women's end. Last season, both the men and women came away with victories, with the men claiming a 147-90 win and the women swimming off with a 141-83 victory.
Florida fans will get an early look at 2008 Gator signee, Roberto Gomez. Gomez signed a letter of intent in November to swim in Gainesville next season and will bring with him several accolades from his days at IRCC, including an NJCAA national championship and IRCC record as part of the 800-yard freestyle relay team. He is also a member of the Venezuelan National team.
As always, all Florida swim meets are free to all fans at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
