Florida Gators
Bethune-Cookman
Gators gearing up for crowded house as host of SEC Swimming Championships
Friday, February 4, 2011 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving, Women's Tennis, Scott Carter
The UF men's and women's swimming teams capped the regular season on Sunday with victories over Indian River State College.
The next time they jump into the pool at the O'Connell Center other than for practice, it will be for the SEC Championships. The diving championships are Feb. 11-13, followed by the swimming championships Feb. 13-16.
This year is the first time the Gators have hosted the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in six years.
“The SEC [swimming] meet is already sold out,'' UF coach Gregg Troy said. “Our venue, it swims better than maybe any place in the country. It's a fantastic training facility.''
There are tickets remaining for the diving finals. For more information, check out this link.
The Gators will enter the meet as the likely favorite, led by 2012 Olympic hopefuls Conor Dwyer, Teresa Crippen and Elizabeth Beisel.
There's no doubt they'll have a home-pool advantage. Troy is expecting the O'Connell Center's swimming facility to be as loud as it has been in a long time.
“There hasn't been [an SEC meet] at Florida in awhile,'' he said. “It doesn't lend itself to crowd control very well with a massive number of seats. It puts everything right down on you.
“It's a very action-packed, high-energy place for the conference meet. The athletes like it, but it is a little cumbersome for spectators and coaches [to get around].''
If the Gators win, Troy won't mind bumping into a person or two.
