Courtesy: FSU Athletics
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida State swimming and diving teams will compete at the Morcom Aquatics Center for the first time this season on Friday at 2 p.m.
The Seminoles will host Florida Southern, West Florida and UNF in a quad meet on Friday before welcoming Georgia at 12 p.m., on Saturday.
Friday’s contest will follow the 16-event format, featuring the 100s and 200s of each stroke in addition to the 50, 500, 1000 free, and 200 IM. The meet will start with the 200 medley relay and end with the 200 free relay. Both 1-meter and 3-meter will run simultaneously to swimming.
The individual events for Saturday are the same, however, the team will compete in the 400 free relay to close out the weekend.
The Seminoles have hosted UNF, UWF, and Florida Southern in a quad contest annually since 2017 (except in 2020 due to COVID) however, this will be the first meeting between FSU and UGA since 1991.
Live timing will be available on Meet Mobile for both meets.
“We’re looking forward to getting some more races in,” FSU head coach Neal Studd said. “It will be important for us to work on the details. We’re excited to host a national powerhouse like Georgia on Saturday. I wanted both teams to be uncomfortable and must set up early in the season and we will certainly have to do that. The men have not lost a dual in two years, so this will be a very tough test.”
The Last Time Out
The women’s team dominated the Osprey Invite, defeating Georgia Southern and UNF on Oct. 7, scoring 1,345.5 points.
For the second straight year, the men’s team won the TYR Classic that ran from Oct. 7-8, scoring 552 points.
Peter Varjasi and Jesco Helling were named ACC Performers of the Week for leading the Noles.
Varjasi set two meet records, winning the 100 and 200 free. The Erlangen, Germany, native lowered his own mark from 2021 (1:38.25) in the 200 free, touching at 1:37.45, winning by almost four seconds. He then eclipsed Blaise Vera’s (Pitt) mark in the 100 free (44.20), with a time of 44.04.
Helling (Dresden, Germany) made it a perfect sweep of the springboards, winning 1-meter (295.95) on Saturday after taking 3-meter on Friday (339.90), finishing ahead of his teammate, Darwin Nolasco in second in both events.
He also turned in the top time in the 200 IM (1:49.92) and led the Noles to victories in the 200 and 400 free relays.
The Opponents
Before finishing third at the Osprey Invite, UNF defeated Little Rock (171-144) and fell to Vanderbilt (85-177). The Ospreys picked up their second win of the season, edging Georgia Southern 136-126.
West Florida is 3-0 and currently sits at No. 5 in the women’s CSCAA Top 25 for NCAA Division II schools, while both teams from Florida Southern are 10th.
The Mocs are 1-1 after dropping the home opener to Arkansas (77-121). FSC defeated RV Rollins 146-110 after finishing third in the Shark Invitational at Nova Southeastern. The men defeated No. 25 Rollins (162-94) and were the runner-up at the Shark Invitational.
The women started the season 4-0, defeating Arizona State in both a short (62-28) and long (203-90) formatted meet and Missouri (190-105) on Sept. 30-Oct.1. The Bulldogs then defeated Georgia Tech (188-109) on the road 188-109. The men’s team split with the Sun Devils (46-44, 145.5-155.5) and defeated the Tigers (205-95) and Yellow Jackets (180-119) to sit at 3-1 this season.
The Series
FSU is 8-0 against Florida Southern in both series, and the women are 13-0 facing UNF and 7-0 over West Florida.
Despite over a 30-year gap between duals, FSU is 40-13-1 all-time against Georgia in the men’s series, while the women are 5-8.
Noles in the Polls
The men’s team was included in the first CSCAA Top 25 poll of 2022-23, coming in at No. 21. FSU has been included in 30-straight Top 25 polls, dating back to Nov. 7, 2017.
FSU’s men have also won 12-straight duals. FSU last fell to RV Alabama on Jan. 11, 2020, 145-153.
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