Only a few days after the UF men's and women's swimming teams began their journey to find themselves, they begin their journey to find where they stack up in the Southeastern Conference.
They will head to Baton Rouge, La., in order to take on their first SEC opponent of the season LSU with the men's team hitting the pool Wednesday and the women swimming Thursday.
The men look to bounce back big against the Tigers after taking a tough loss to Michigan last Friday. The Gators head into the meet confident they can do some damage to LSU, as they hold an impressive 18-0 record against the Tigers all-time.
LSU will employ its weapon, the "German Trio," comprised of three German swimmers: Christoph Lubenau, Julius Gloeckner and Hannes Heyl. The trio has shattered five school records in the past two seasons.
In order to stop them, UF will not only need solid performances like Clark Burckle and Rex Tullius gave last week against Michigan, but it will also need some of its lesser-known swimmers to come up big as well.
The women, coming off a win against Michigan and a loss to powerhouse Stanford, look to take their newfound experience into the SEC season.
The Gator women, like the men, boast an impressive resume against the Tigers, having never lost in 11 matchups between the teams.
Multiple freshman swimmers like Shara Stafford make up the women's team, and while wins and losses always lure in the back of their minds, their immediate goal for this semester is to gain experience.
However, as some of the younger swimmers proved last week, experience isn't everything. Senior Laurabeth Guenthner is excited about what the young swimmers bring to the table, and how that natural speed combines with the more experienced swimmers.
"They obviously came in [to UF] very fast," Guenthner said. "But we also have swimmers that have lots of experience like having been to trials."
Asked what this meet meant for the Gators and for the women in particular, associate head coach Martyn Wilby replied, "You never want to lose, but (this meet) is an educational tool to see where we are."
