After bang-up individual performances this summer, including various medals and broken records, the UF swimming and diving team will unite as Gators to make their first mark on the 2010-11 season.
Today kicks off the team’s season opener with the inaugural All Florida Invitational hosted at the O’Connell Center. Competing teams for this weekend’s meet will be those stemmed across the state, including ACC standouts Miami and Florida State, as well as Florida Atlantic University, Florida Southern and Nova Southeastern.
The three-day long meet will be the first time the team has opened up a season at home since 2003.
“It’s a tremendous advantage because it at least gives us one meet under our belt before we have to travel,” UF head swimming and diving coach, Gregg Troy said. “It’s going to give us a little better feel for actually selecting who the travel squad is going to be and what the roster is.”
This season, the women’s team is a young group, with only one senior—diver Monica Dodson. The group’s freshman excelled in their summer competition, particularly Elizabeth Beisel who broke a 26-year-old school record at the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships in August. The focus is more on the younger swimmers stepping up, as the team has lost leaders from last year’s graduated class, Troy said.
Conversely, the men’s side has a hefty senior squad. Their leadership, paired with their experience, paves the way for a team that has the potential to be real good, Troy said.
“[The All Florida Invitational] will be more to see where we’re at,” senior swimmer Conor Dwyer said. “It’s more for us to use as practice.”
However, this weekend the Gators will be a little shorthanded on both sides, as a handful of swimmers will be competing in the Commonwealth Games in India.
“The biggest challenge this season will be getting everyone back together at the end of the year,” Dwyer said. “We’ll all have to be on the same page when we have the SEC (championships) at home (in February).”
Today’s preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. in the O’Connell Center.
