With nine members of the men’s swimming and diving team competing at the two-day Classic at SMU, the rest of the third ranked Florida men (5-0, 3-0 SEC) and the eighth ranked Florida women (3-2, 2-1 SEC) will host Florida Atlantic on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the O’Connell Center. The meet is being dubbed a ‘pink’ meet for breast cancer awareness.
The Gators are competing in their first of three consecutive dual weekends. The Orange and Blue will host Auburn on Jan. 25, and then travel to Knoxville to face Tennessee on Feb. 1, to conclude the regular season. Florida Atlantic has competed at the FIU Invitational and the Georgia Tech Invite so far this season and will compete against Florida State this afternoon.
Sounds Bites:
“It gives a chance to see what has happened the last two weeks and allows us to move forward. The women swimming at home, we look at the rest of the meets this semester as dress rehearsals. We’re going to go through the same type of routine that we will use at the end of the year. We’re going to try and get up earlier, have breakfast and come in and swim the meets with the idea that we are preparing for the end of the year. Along those same lines, we’re looking for the final people that will make the team for the conference meet.”- Head Coach Gregg Troy
“We’re in a pretty good spot. We’ve been pleased with the performances on both sides for the most part. The weaknesses we have addressed, we feel like we’ve gotten better on. Both their attitudes are good and we have been relatively healthy.”- Troy
Series History: Florida men lead Florida Atlantic 16-0 all-time. The Gator women lead the Owls 17-0 all-time.
Gators Ranked Nationally in the Top-Five:
- · Mitch D’Arrigo-500freestyle (5th-4:15.04),1000 freestyle (4th-9:07.43)
- · Arthur Frayler-1000freestyle (3rd– 9:04.53),1650 freestyle (3rd– 14:52.63)
- · Dan Wallace– 400 individual medley (4th, 3:42.18)
- · Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez-200 breaststroke (4th– 1:54.69), 200 individual medley (5th-1:43.90)
- · Marcin Cieslak-200 individual medley (1st, 1:42.69), 100 butterfly (4th, 46.28), 200 butterfly (5th, 1:43.29)
- · Sebastien Rousseau-200 butterfly (2nd, 1:42.88), 400 individual medley (2nd, 3:41.26)
- · Men’s 800 freestyle relay (2nd, 6:20.94)
- · Natalie Hinds– 100 freestyle (5th, 47.67)
- · Elizabeth Beisel– 400 individual medley (1st, 4:00.55), 1000 freestyle (1st, 9:38.49), 1650 freestyle (4th, 15:56.55), 200 individual medley (5th, 1:54.59)
- · Alicia Mathieu– 1650 freestyle (1st, 15:46.17)
- · Sinead Russell– 200 backstroke (4th, 1:51.44)
- · Ellese Zalewski– 100 butterfly (1st, 51.13)
- · Women’s 800 free relay-(5th, 7:05.61)
- · Women’s 200 medley relay- (1st, 1:36.42)
- · Women’s 400 medley relay- (2nd, 3:30.27)
Last Time Out: After a six-week break from competition, UF men (5-0, 3-0 SEC) defeated No. 16 FSU (3-1) by a score of 180-118. Florida men led from start to finish, winning all of the freestyle, breaststroke and relay events. deBorde led the Gators with a pair of sprint victories and was on both the first place 400 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay. Fresh off of a silver medal at the European Short Course Championships, freshman Mitch D’Arrigo (Rome, Italy) touched first in the 200 free and 500 free. Junior Carlos Omana (Miami, Fla.) also had two wins, reaching the wall first in the 400 individual medley and the 1000 free. Omana and D’Arrigo were honored by the conference as SEC Male Swimmer of the Week and SEC Freshman Male of the Week, respectively.
The fifth-ranked Florida women (3-2, 2-1 SEC) took down No. 23 FSU (6-2) by a total of 153-147. The Gator women needed to battle back after Florida State placed 1-2 in both sprint events. UF finished strong with wins in the 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke and 100 butterfly. A second place finish in the 200 free relay clinched the final score for the Orange and Blue. Senior Elizabeth Beisel (North Kingstown, R.I.) swept the backstroke events and completed a grueling back-to-back double with a second place finish in the 200 breaststroke immediately after winning the 200 back. Senior Hilda Luthersdottir (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland) posted wins in both breaststroke events and swam the breaststroke leg of the first place 400 medley relay. The Gator distance group swept the 1000 freestyle with a 1-2-3-4 finish behind senior Alicia Mathieu (Marlborough, Conn.).
Men’s Dual Streak: The Gator men have gone 20 straight dual meets without dropping a dual, a record that dates back to Jan. 21, 2011.
Fan Information: Parking will be available in the O’Connell Center parking lot garage. The first 150 fans in attendance will receive a pink Florida Swimming and Diving mouse pad. Gates will open at 10 a.m.
Schedule of Events:
One-meter diving (11:30 a.m.)
200 Medley Relay
1,000 Freestyle
200 Freestyle
100 Back
100 Breast
200 Fly
50 Free
Three-meter diving (women)
100 Free
200 Back
200 Breast
500 Free
100 Fly
Three-meter diving (men)
200 IM
400 Free Relay
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This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of the University of Florida Swimming and Diving.