Coach Troy Reviews Men's Win at Georgia, Previews Women's Tri-Meet vs. Stanford/Michigan
Monday, November 1, 2010 | Men's Swimming & Diving
University of Florida head coach Gregg Troy addressed the media Monday morning as part of the Gators' All-Sports Media Day.
Coach Troy shared his thoughts about last weekend's competition, when the men's swimming and diving team opened up its road schedule on Friday picking up its first victory of the 2010-11 season with a 170-130 triumph over Southeastern Conference rival Georgia, while the women's team dropped a 180-120 decision to the Lady Bulldogs. The meet marked the SEC opener for both schools and the 10th consecutive SEC-opening win for the Gator men's squad.
He then preview this week's action, when the men travel to LSU Thursday and the women travel to Stanford for a tri-meet vs. Stanford and Michigan in a rematch of the 2010 NCAA Championship.
Coach Troy also discussed and fielded questions about the success of Connor Dwyer and on the exciting women's meet.
TRANSCRIPT
On the men's performance against Georgia:
“The men beat a very good Georgia team. We jumped on them real early. The men have had a tough time in the past, getting behind in meets. We took a little different philosophy and tried to adapt our meet lineup a little different. Georgia is very good in the distance events so we stretched Conor Dwyer a little bit. We had him swim the distance freestyles, including the 1000 freestyle at the beginning of the meet. Georgia is really good there. He actually swam the fastest time in the country. We won the first relay and came right back and won the 1000 (free). A bonus surprise, Jason Taylor, one of our sophomores coming on, swam the fourth fastest time in the country. We had a good 1000 swim and won three (straight) right there. We came back and won the next couple events and brought in Rodion Davelaar, a redshirt sophomore, who was a completely unheralded guy coming into school. He has become one of best breaststrokers and won the 100 breast. The rest of the meet, the men raced tough and competed very well the whole way.”
On the women's performance against Georgia:
“The women's side was almost the opposite. It was a very emotional week for the women. We had a little bit of a hard time getting started. We dropped the first four events, but then came back and won eight of the next 12 and raced extremely well. Sarah Bateman and Shara Stafford have become the fastest sprinters in the country and are a pretty good one-two punch with the 100 freestyle. Shara won the 100 backstroke. We feel pretty good at where we are at. Even though it was a little disappointing being at the short end of the score, we were very pleased with the way we raced and how well the women adapted and handled the week.”
On how well Conor is swimming:
“You're always worried with a guy like Conor that because he came around so quickly last year he's going to kind of be stagnant and maybe won't take it to the next level. But, it has been the exact opposite. Everything we are seeing in training goes up another notch. He seems to have become very adapted to swimming a lot of different events. The 1000 free was really extending a long way for him. At the same token, he might be our best 50 free at the moment. He's a class act and the thing that it's doing is bringing some of the men's team along with it. I feel pretty confident with where the men's team is, and he is certainly a leader in that aspect.”
On the women's team facing Stanford and Michigan this weekend:
“We had the same situation last year. Our October and November schedule was really rough for the women. We swam Georgia and Stanford back-to-back last year and came out on the short end on both ends. It's a good Stanford team; they graduated a few people but had the best recruiting class in the country probably coming in. It's also a very good Big 10 team in Michigan. It will be good to swim them on their (Stanford) home turf. To swim a two-day meet out there, we will get to see all the events and it will be a good challenge.”
