After Florida’s men were crowned as kings of swimming and diving in the Southeastern Conference last week, the Gators will now head to Georgia for the Bulldog Last Chance Meet. The meet will be a final opportunity for swimmers to qualify for the NCAA Championships toward the end of March.
It will be two days long. The Gators have 25 swimmers who took home NCAA “B” qualifying times this season. They can compete in events that have not filled up in automatic qualifiers.
Gators Head Coach Gregg Troy believes the men’s team will build off of its performance in the SEC’s when it goes to Indianapolis, Ind. for the NCAA’s.
“It was a true team performance,” Troy said. “We’ve fallen short six years in a row and always been in the ballpark [win]. This time, our bottom six really turned up good. [The] middle of the lineup was fantastic. And the guys showed a lot of character.”
Coincidentally, the men will see some of the same opponents in Indianapolis. Auburn’s Kyle Owens and Marcelo Chierighini held their titles in the 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle. Auburn had won the SEC 16 straight times.
“Auburn’s been, traditionally, a very deep program. In past years we’ve always been as good the first six guys, but the bottom six in our lineup haven’t been quite as good as theirs,” Troy said.
Although the women finished third at the SEC’s, Troy thinks they will be ready, and even more so, hungry to prove themselves against the nation’s top swimmers.
“Three years ago, the NCAA meet wasn’t as fast as what this year’s conference was. The addition of two new teams made it a tremendous competition.” Troy said.
“[The women’s team] had a little bit of a depth problem, but we swam extremely well.
I feel like we might even be a little bit better NCAA team than we are a conference team.”
One of the more famous of the women’s swimmers is junior Elizabeth Beisel, who won her second straight Commissioner’s Trophy as the top-points leader in the SEC’s. Beisel won her first NCAA Championship last year after posting a time of 1:50.58 in the 200 dorsal, which was the 15th quickest time ever. This time, she and her teammates will be looking to climb the standings and expand their trophy case.
“It bodes well for the future. Looking ahead at the NCAA meet, we know what to do,” Troy said on the women’s SEC performance.
