After watching the Florida women’s swimming and diving team win the 2010 Women’s NCAA Championships, the Florida men’s team will look to capture a national championship of its own.
Having a month of training since the whole team competed at a meet on Feb. 20, 12 Gators will represent UF at the 2010 Men’s NCAA Swimming Championships in Columbus, Ohio. Beginning competition today, the Gators will have three days to try to repeat what their women counterparts did.
Placing second at the Southeastern Conference Championships, the women’s team made a surprising run in West Lafayette, Ind., to win the national crown last week. Also placing in second at the SEC Championships, the men’s team hopes to have some of that same magic with them in Columbus.
“After we watched them win, that just motivated us immensely,” junior Brett Fraser said.”We want to do the same thing as them.”
Leading the way for the Gators will be senior Shaune Fraser and junior Conor Dwyer.
Fraser, the defending NCAA champion in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly, will try to add on to his 20 All-American performances as he swims alongside his brother for the last time in orange and blue.
Dwyer, swimming in his first NCAA meet, proved to be an instant success for the Gators. Transferring from Iowa after two years, Dwyer was named the 2010 SEC Men’s Swimmer of the Year and tied with the older Fraser for the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy — given to the swimmer who contributes the most points towards his team’s overall score at the meet.
Also competing will be Balazs Gercsak, Roberto Gomez, Marco Loughran, Matt Norton, Joey Pedraza, Omar Pinzon, Jeff Raymond and Sebastien Rousseau. Roland Rudolf will be serving as the team’s alternate.
Senior All-Americans Gomez (two-time), Pinzon (12-time) and Rudolf (eight-time) will also be swimming in their last meets as Gators.
They, along with all of the underclassmen, will be just as important as Fraser and Dwyer in orchestrating a great team performance for UF.
“We’re very much like the women’s team,” coach Gregg Troy said. “You can’t just have one guy stand out. It’s a group competition.”
