After suffering an injury early this season, Florida sophomore Brian Howell returned to competition in November and has made the best of his opportunity since.
Howell broke his hand while hanging out with his teammates after practice and was confined to a splint for three weeks, unable to swim.
In his first tournament back, the South Carolina Invitational two weeks ago, Howell showed he had the potential to be one of UF’s elite individual medley swimmers.
He was fourth in the men’s 200-yard IM and second in the 400 IM.
Howell said his performance in that first meet was close to what he expected after not competing in the earlier meets this season.
“The amount of training that I’d done and that being my first real competition of the year, I can’t say I was disappointed,” Howell said. “I would’ve liked to swim faster, but it was a good starting point.”
On a team loaded with talented athletes, Howell has managed to put himself in the mix with the more recognized names.
He swam the sixth-fastest time (1:52.99) for UF this season in the 200 backstroke, and he owns the fifth-fastest time (1:51.41) this year in the 200 IM.
His most notable time this fall came in the 400 IM, back in South Carolina, where he swam a 3:56.21, placing him behind junior Conor Dwyer for the second-fastest time in the event.
The sophomore said he has dealt with the pressure of swimming for one of the nation’s top programs, and the depth of the team is a driving factor for the team’s improvement.
“There’s definitely a lot of pressure here because the team is so good,” Howell said. “If you don’t step up, there’s someone else right behind you who’ll step up and do the job just as (well) or better than you could.
“A spot is never guaranteed, and that’s why everyone keeps getting better.”
When UF’s fourth-ranked men and fifth-ranked women compete in the Georgia Invitational today through Sunday, Howell said he’ll be looking to get more race experience, but coach Gregg Troy will be looking to the sophomore to see just what he can do.
This is UF’s last meet until January.
“He’s one of the guys we’re especially going to watch this weekend because he’s got some good talent,” Troy said. “He didn’t get to race quite as often as we would like this fall, but he did do a good job of recovering and staying on track, so he’s one that we really want to see some more racing from.”
