Florida Swimming and Diving Releases 2010-11 Schedule
Friday, August 27, 2010 | Men's Swimming & Diving
After leading the University of Florida's women's swimming and diving team to its second national championship and guiding the men's team to its seventh consecutive top-five finish, Head Coach Gregg Troy announced a schedule Friday that will prove to be one of the most challenging campaigns in school history.
“We put together a challenging dual-meet schedule with top teams from major conferences,” Troy said. “It's a great challenge. From an invitational standpoint, we're trying to compete in enough invitationals with a three-day format that help put us in a championship mentality.”
The UF men and women will face three teams during dual meets that finished in the top-10 at last year's NCAA Championships, including road trips to conference rivals Georgia (Oct. 29) and Auburn (Jan. 21). Florida's first dual meet against a top-10 team comes at home on Oct. 11 against 2010 ACC Champion Virginia in a rematch of last year's season-opening win.
The Gators will open up the season in the friendly confines of the O'Connell Center for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign with the inaugural All Florida Invitational Oct. 1-3, featuring teams from around the state. Following the meets against Virginia and Georgia, both teams will spend the rest of the calendar year competing outside of the Sunshine State. The men's team will compete at LSU Nov. 4, while the women's team will compete in a double-dual meet against Michigan and 2010 Pac-10 Champion Stanford Nov. 5-6 in Palo Alto, Calif. The national champion Gators edged Stanford for the 2010 NCAA Championship this past March in the second-closest finish in the history of the competition (382-379.5).
Other dual-meet highlights include a road trip against arch-rival Florida State on Nov. 23 and an SEC showdown at home vs. Tennessee on Jan. 29. The home schedule rounds out with dual meets against Georgia Tech (Jan. 7-9), Florida Atlantic (Jan. 15) and Indian River State College (Jan. 30).
The Orange and Blue will also participate in a demanding invitational schedule, highlighted by a trip to Columbus, Ohio Dec. 2-4 for the 2010 AT&T Short Course National Championships. The Gators additionally have scheduled trips to the Georgia Tech Invitational (Nov. 19-21), Princeton Invitational (Dec. 3-5) and Tennessee Diving Invitational (Jan. 3-5). The men's team will also send 10 swimmers to the Dallas Classic in Dallas, Texas from Jan. 14-15.
The championship season will begin with the Southeastern Conference Championships returning to Gainesville for the first time since the 2004-05 season. The diving championships take place at the O'Connell Center Feb. 11-13, followed by the swimming portion of the meet from Feb. 16-19 at the same location. Following the SEC Championships, the Gators will travel to Orlando, Fla. from Feb. 25-27 for the Florida Swimming Senior Championships. Orange and Blue divers will then compete at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships March 10-12 in Athens, Ga. The women's team will try to capture its second-straight NCAA title at the women's NCAA Championship held from March 17-19 in Austin, Texas, while the men's event will be contested a week later in Minneapolis, Minn.
“The men's side will be very young,” Troy said. “We have experienced guys like Brett Fraser, Conor Dwyer and Sebastien Rousseau, but we do have some holes to fill. We will have to replace some swimmers on the women's side as well, but for both teams we're trying to keep the goals high and win a championship.”
| DATE | MEET | SITE | TIME |
| Sat, Sep 25 | Orange & Blue Meet (Alumni Weekend) | Gainesville, FL | All Day |
| Oct 1 - 3 | All Florida Invitational | Gainesville, FL | All Day |
| Mon, Oct 11 | Virginia | Gainesville, FL | 1:00 pm |
| Fri, Oct 29 | Georgia * | Athens, GA | 11:00 am |
| Thu, Nov 4 | LSU (Men's) * | Baton Rouge, LA | 1:00 pm |
| Nov. 5-6 | Stanford and Michigan (Women's) | Palo Alto, Ca. | 7 p.m. |
| Nov 19 - 21 | Georgia Tech Invitational | Atlanta, GA | All Day |
| Tue, Nov 23 | Florida State | Tallahassee, FL | 4:00 pm |
| Dec 2 - 4 | U.S. Nationals | Columbus, OH | All Day |
| Dec 3 - 5 | Princeton Invitational | Princeton, NJ | All Day |
| Jan 3 - 5 | Tennessee Diving Invitational | Knoxville, TN | All Day |
| Jan 7 - 9 | Georgia Tech | Gainesville, FL | 6:00 pm |
| Jan 14 - 15 | Dallas Classic (Men's) | Dallas, TX | 7:00 pm |
| Sat, Jan 15 | Florida Atlantic | Gainesville, FL | 1:00 pm |
| Fri, Jan 21 | Auburn * | Auburn, AL | 4:00 pm |
| Sat, Jan 29 | Tennessee * | Gainesville, FL | 12:00 pm |
| Sun, Jan 30 | Indian River State College | Gainesville, FL | 1:00 pm |
| Feb 11 - 13 | SEC Diving Championships * | Gainesville, FL | All Day |
| Feb 16 - 19 | SEC Swimming Championships * | Gainesville, FL | All Day |
| Feb 25 - 27 | FL Swimming Sr. Championships | Orlando, FL | All Day |
| Mar 10 - 12 | NCAA Zone Diving Championships | Athens, GA | All Day |
| Mar 17-19 | NCAA Women's Championships | Austin, TX | All Day |
| Mar 24 - 26 | NCAA Men's Championships | Minneapolis, MN | All Day |
All home events in bold. * Conference Meet. All dates and times subject to change
