An air of sweet revenge engulfed the O’Connell Center on Tuesday night after Florida and Florida State met for a rematch of the top two teams last weekend at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
The Gators women handled the Seminoles 212-88, and the men won 169-131.
If FSU had thought Tuesday’s result would be anything like it last weekend – when it finished ahead of Florida on both men’s and women’s sides – the Gators quickly dismissed that thought in the first two swimming events on the evening.
When UF’s women jumped into the pool for the 200-yard medley, the excitement in the O’Connell Center was palpable. However, it was soon clear that the Gators were ready to do battle when the women swam their fastest time all season (1:40.54) in the event to take the win.
The crowd erupted, but the cheers only got louder when the UF men followed that performance by the swimming their fastest team of the season to edging FSU for a win by 28-hundredths of a second in the 200 medley.
By the first break in action, UF stood comfortably ahead of FSU 124-45 on the women’s side, while the men were in a closer battle but led 85-84.
“I’m really proud of the way we responded,” coach Gregg Troy said. “We came back (from Georgia Tech), we had a training session, and we just got emotionally into this meet and responded to the challenge.”
Leading UF were some experienced athletes.
Sophomore Jemma Lowe gathered wins in the 100 and 200 fly, and had a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay.
Senior Gemma Spofforth finished first in the 200 medley relay, the 100-yard backstroke, the 200 back and the 400 free relay. Before the meet Spofforth had fallen from her scooter and had required stitches, but showed no sign of a hindrance in the pool.
“Being beaten at Georgia Tech this weekend was one of the biggest things in the locker room,” Spofforth said. “We wanted to beat them today and that’s what we went out there to do.”
On the men’s side, senior Shaune Fraser continued his outstanding season, claiming wins in the 200 medley relay, the 100 and 200 fly and the 100 free.
Fellow teammate and junior Conor Dwyer stood out in his first UF-FSU showdown in Gainesville since joining the team. Dwyer, whose mother swam for the Seminoles, showed off his abilities with wins in the 200 medley relay, the 200 free, the 500 free and the 400 free relay.
“My mom went there, so there was a rivalry even before the meet started,” Dwyer said. “We knew it was going to be a really close meet, and we knew we had to be perfect in every swim, so we just had to come out on fire.”
