Women's Swim & Dive Welcomes FAU to Gainesville Saturday
Thursday, January 14, 2010 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Before ending the home dual meet season with Senior Day against Auburn Fri., Jan. 22, the top-10 Florida men's and women's swimming and diving squads will face one more test when the teams from in-state rival, Florida Atlantic University, visit Gainesville Jan. 16 for a dual meet clash.
The meet with FAU falls in the midst of a four-meet home stand for the Gators. Both UF squads defeated Indian River State College and conference rival LSU Jan. 9 and 10 to improve to 7-2 (2-1 SEC) and 6-0 (2-0 SEC) in women's and men's dual meet swimming and diving, respectively.
“We just finished our Christmas training and returned from winter break,” associate head coach Anthony Nesty said of the team's training status. “It's a good time to judge where our athletes are at physically and mentally. We are pretty much where we need to be. We do all of our training in the fall and what you see from athletes in the fall and in the spring are two different things – two different athletes. I must say that championship season is upon us – every little thing matters now. We're also in the process of trying to pick the last two to three athletes that will comprise our conference team.”
The Gators last matched up with Florida Atlantic Jan. 17, 2009, when the Owls traveled to Gainesville for a dual with both the men and women. On the men's side, Florida defeated FAU, 174-123, while the UF women topped FAU, 159-127. Florida currently enjoys an undefeated record against Sunshine State opponent FAU. In the history of the series, the UF women's squad holds an undefeated 13-0 record versus the Owls, while the Florida men are 12-0 in dual competition with Florida Atlantic.
Florida Atlantic enters the meet with Florida after a strenuous and packed 2009-10 dual meet schedule thus far. The Owls and Gators have shared opponents this season in LSU and all participating teams at the 2009 Georgia Tech Invitational. FAU most recently defeated Florida International, 135-87, in women's action Jan. 9, while the men's squad fell to LSU Jan. 8, 126.5-73.5. When FAU and Florida crossed paths in Atlanta at the Georgia Tech Invite Nov. 19-21, both UF teams secured second-place finishes, while the FAU men took sixth and the women placed seventh.
While a portion of the men's squad and the UF women will play host to FAU in the O'Dome Natatorium Saturday, nine Gators from the men's team will head west to Texas for competition in the 2010 SMU Classic, hosted by Southern Methodist University in Dallas. A squad of eight swimmers and one diver is permitted for the annual invitational. The Gators will send several of their most versatile men's swimmers to the two-day showdown that runs Jan. 15 and 16 at the Perkins Natatorium on SMU's campus. Meet time is slated for 8:30 p.m. (ET) each day and Florida fans can find results and a recap of each day's meet action on www.GatorZone.com.
At last year's SMU Classic, Florida racked up 311 points to finish second overall at the meet.
“This weekend we have a group of men going to Dallas and a majority of our team will be taking on Florida Atlantic at home. The Dallas meet is a pretty fun meet. We'll be competing against five other teams and you're allowed to bring one diver and eight swimmers,” Nesty said. “We usually pick our most versatile guys who will be swimming one relay and two individual events. Last year we were second, so hopefully this year we can bring the trophy home.”
SMU Classic Men's Squad (Jan. 15-16)
Conor Dwyer
Brett Fraser
Shaune Fraser
Balazs Gercsak
Roberto Gomez
John Lehtonen
Anthony Lewark
Marco Loughran
Omar Pinzon
Florida versus FAU Order of Events (Saturday, Jan. 16)
1:00 pm 200 Medley
1,000 Freestyle
200 Freestyle
100 Back
100 Breast
200 Fly
50 Free
2:15 pm (approximate) BREAK – (1M Women & Men)
2:45 pm (approximate) 100 Free
200 Back
200 Breast
500 Free
100 Fly
2:50 pm (approximate) BREAK – (3M Women & Men)
3:20 pm (approximate) 200 IM
200 Free Relay
3:30 pm (approximate) End of Meet
-UF-
