If history is any indication, the Florida women’s swimming and diving team’s matchup with Stanford will be a tight one.
Last year, two meetings with the Cardinal produced a pair of nail-biters and one decided the national title. The two squads will square off again Friday night for a tri-meet with Michigan in Palo Alto, Calif.
Florida’s regular-season meet against Stanford last year boiled down to half a second, with the final leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay serving as the deciding factor.
UF’s quartet of Shara Stafford, Gemma Spofforth, Sarah Bateman and Stephanie Napier fell short, coming in at 1:33:82, just a hair behind Stanford’s time of 1:33:28. However, when the teams next faced each other at the 2010 NCAA Championships, the Gators had the last laugh, beating out Stanford for the title.
“The meet ended up being so close between so many teams by that point, it was anyone’s championship,” Stafford said. “One person placing one spot lower could have cost any of us that meet.”
The Gators won with a point total of 382, a mere 2.5 ahead of Stanford. They expect another stiff test this weekend.
“It’s a good Stanford team,” coach Gregg Troy said. “They graduated a few people but had the best recruiting class in the country probably coming in. It’s also a very good Big 10 team in Michigan.”
Last year, the Gators beat the Wolverines 292-137.
While the women’s team is swimming on the other side of the country, the men’s squad will be in the southern comfort of the Southeastern Conference in their meet at LSU today.
One male swimmer is fresh off of twin honors. Senior Conor Dwyer won three events in the Georgia meet last week, and his times in the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyles were the fastest in the NCAA this year.
That performance earned him Counsilman-Hunsaker National Collegiate Male Swimmer of the Week, and he also snagged the SEC Male Swimmer of the Week honors for the second time this season, being the first Gator to do so since Ryan Lochte in 2004-05.
“He’s a class act,” Troy said. “The thing that it’s doing is bringing some of the men’s team along with it. I feel pretty confident with where the men’s team is, and he is certainly a leader in that aspect.”
In last week’s meet against Georgia, younger swimmers started to step up alongside Dwyer. Sophomore Jason Taylor notched a second-place finish in the 500 freestyle, and sophomore Scott Sommer contributed to the Gators’ win in the 400 freestyle.
“I think guys like Jason Taylor and Scott Sommer can be a huge impact for us in the spring,” Dwyer said. “If younger guys can step up for us later in the year, we will have an excellent team.”
In today’s meet, Dwyer said it would be important for younger swimmers to step up because some won’t be competing due to academic obligations.
Today’s meet is set for 2 p.m. in Baton Rouge, La.
