After seeing the UF women’s swimming and diving team finish ninth at the NCAA Championships last week, the men now have their chance to try to take home a national title.
The three-day NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships begin today in Iowa City, Iowa, and the No. 4 Gators will look to make another deep run.
Florida’s men’s squad is coming off a third-place team finish at the 2014 national meet — the highest UF has finished under coach Gregg Troy. The Gators have never finished below ninth place at the national meet since Troy took over the program in the 1999-2000 season.
And with 15 athletes (14 swimmers, one diver) competing in 14 individual events and all five relays, Florida has a chance to finish near the top of the leaderboards.
"Our group is very experienced and deep," Troy said in a release. "We are looking forward to a great competition this week."
That competition comes from a field that has eight other teams with at least 10 athletes competing, highlighted by top-ranked Texas (20) and No. 2 California (16).
Georgia (12) and Auburn (10) are the only Southeastern Conference schools other than Florida with a double-digit athlete total at the NCAA Championship.
Preliminary heats begin at noon each day, with finals following at 8 p.m.
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Under coach Gregg Troy (above), Florida returns 11 All-Americans this season on the men’s team and two-time Olympian Elizabeth Beisel to the women.
