Florida Women to Face No. 2 Cal, No. 1 Georgia in Back-to-Back Meets

Florida has released its 2013-2014 schedule, and early indication is that it will be one of the toughest in the country.

After hosting the annual All-Florida Invitational, they will run through a two-week slate that sees the men  open up their dual meet competition against last year’s 18th-best team in the country Minnesota; then a co-ed opening SEC competition against Missouri on the road, then the women heading out West for a two-day battle with the 2011 and 2012 National Champions Cal, and then returning home to host the defending women’s NCAA Champions from Georgia and the number 20 Georgia men.

That means that the women, in back-to-back meets, will face the no. 1 and no. 2 teams from last year’s NCAA Championships, and add later on the no. 3 team from Tennessee. (They avoided in-conference Texas A&M this year, who was no. 4).

The Gators will head to the Ohio State Invitational  from November 22-24, a return visit from last year, which will serve as their mid-season focus meet.

After returning from holiday training, Troy and the Gators will welcome in Florida State for their first look at the Seminoles’ new staff. At year’s end, its usually the Gators who come out ahead in this rivalry, but this in-season dual meet can be quite interesting at times. New Florida State head coach Frank Bradley is a familiar foe to the Gators, having come from Auburn where he was the associate head coach.

Then the men will head to the always-entertaining SMU Classic in Dallas, before returning home to a run of dual meets heading into the championship season.

Florida will then have a run at home, hosting Junior College National Championship Indian River State College, Florida Atlantic, and Auburn. That has become a bit of a grudge match, as the Florida men ended Auburn’s 16-straight SEC Championship streak last year.

The teams will end the season on the road against Tennessee, and then head to Athens, Georgia for the SEC Championships. The meet will run from February 18th-22nd, meaning that the SEC liked the 5-day meet format enough to revive it this year.

Women’s NCAA’s will run from March 20th-22nd in Minneapolis, and men’s will run from March 27th-29th in Austin.

Women’s schedule:

Men’s Schedule