This weekend is the final opportunity for four Florida seniors to leave a mark on college swimming.
The pressure is on for Balasz Gercsak, Alex Martin, Logan Storie and Michael Yuan as they travel to Athens, Ga., for the Bulldog Last Chance Meet. They will get one last opportunity to achieve automatic “A” qualification or a high enough “B” qualification for an invitation to the men’s NCAA Championships at Minnesota on March 24-26.
Yuan, a team captain and scholar athlete of the year, received his first-career NCAA “B” qualifying time at the Jan. 30 meet against Indian River State College. He said he needs to improve his time in the 100-yard butterfly to solidify his trip to Minneapolis.
“It’s pretty much an all-or-nothing deal,” Yuan said. “My career is over if I don’t get it, so hopefully I can reach the time.”
Yuan said he and the other NCAA hopefuls have been doing everything possible to improve their times.
The seniors will be accompanied by 11 underclassmen on the men’s side who also hopes to join Florida’s automatic qualifiers, including Southeastern Conference title holders Conor Dwyer and Marco Loughran, at the NCAA Championships.
Ten swimmers from the Gators women’s team will make the trip to the Last Chance Meet to vie for a spot in the women’s NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, on March 17-19. That includes junior Shara Stafford, who won a national title at last year’s NCAA Championship as part of the 200 freestyle relay team and took sixth place individually in the 50 free.
Stafford, who was out for most of January and February with health issues, has already made the NCAA “B” cut for several events but hopes to achieve automatic qualification.
The Gators who make the cut this weekend will join the swimmers from the 200 medley and 800 free relays as well as automatic qualifiers freshman Elizabeth Beisel and junior Teresa Crippen.
Nine other Gators will compete in Orlando this weekend at the Florida Swimming Senior Championships and Time Trial.
