From the scene at the center of the pool Saturday morning, it was hard to tell Florida had just lost to Stanford, yet again.
UF's women stood in a circle, partially submerged, while they sang the alma mater and splashed around in the pool, just minutes after they defeated Michigan, 292-137 and lost to Stanford, 198-231 in a two-day double dual.
The Gators improved to 9-0 against the Wolverines with the win but took more from their loss against the Cardinal.
"Our race was against Stanford. We came in to beat Stanford, and obviously came up a little bit short. So it was good to beat Michigan, but our focus was on Stanford today," senior Gemma Spofforth said.
She added that the team had more fight this time around than it had in last year's 122-178 loss and that the matchup was good preparation for the end-of-year championship season.
"We don't always have a good meet in-season because we are tired - we train pretty hard leading up to a meet - (but) competing against them (Stanford) now, gives us race practice for the end of the year," Spofforth said.
Coach Gregg Troy echoed similar sentiments.
"You'd like to win the meet, but with these meets, there's no ranking that impacts the end of the year. It's a little more (about) getting experience in certain spots," Troy said.
"We still have a long way to go - we're not even half-way through the year, and the stuff that really counts isn't until February and March."
UF had begun the meet Friday night with a close race in the 400-yard medley relay, as it did against Georgia the previous weekend. Only, this time the outcome was different. Unlike in the matchup against the Bulldogs, UF edged Stanford for the win, in 3:41.75, and had another UF relay team finish third.
The meet stayed close between the Gators and the Cardinal for most of Friday night's competition, with the Gators trailing by just one point at the first diving break (46-47) and by two at the second (93-95).
However, by the end of the night, Stanford looked like the more dominant team, holding a commanding 133-110 lead.
When competition resumed Saturday morning, Stanford continued to pull away from UF.
Troy said that after the loss to the Bulldogs, UF addressed some issues in practice and competed better against the Cardinal and the Wolverines this weekend.
"When we came back from the Georgia meet, we had a better week of practice. We were a lot sharper about little things and a little more aware of some things we didn't' do," he said.
Looking at the big picture for UF, the loss against a very good Stanford team so early in the season could prove to be a learning experience for the Gators should they fare better against the Cardinal at the end of the season.
Senior Elizabeth Kemp said the Gators may already be on track to do just that.
"In my four years, no one's been this fast (at this point in the season), so I'm excited."
