The Gators relied on their depth to pull out a
171-129 victory against the Volunteers in their last dual meet of
the season..
No. 20 Tennessee (4-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference)
jumped out to a quick start, winning three of the first five races
behind seniors Ricky Henahan and Jake Epperson. Senior Ryan Helms
would take first in the 1-meter diving and 3-meter diving to bring
the fourth and fifth victories to the Vols’ seniors on the day.
However, Tennessee’s seniors could only do so much
against No. 7 Florida’s underclassmen, which provided the Gators
(6-0-1, 2-0-1 SEC) with enough depth to maintain their undefeated
season.
Sophomore Marcin Cieslak and freshman Matt Elliott
led the charge against the senior-driven Vols. Cieslak placed first
in the 200 freestyle by .14 seconds while Elliot, four-time
Southeastern Conference Male Freshman of the Week, took first in
the 200 breaststroke by more than a full second.
Coach Gregg Troy will lead the undefeated Gators men
into the SEC Championships, Feb. 15-18, also at Tennessee. Troy
wanted to use this final dual meet of the season as a chance to
improve on some weaknesses he saw in previous meets.
“In the SEC you’re going to have good competition all
the time, so any opportunity to swim against a conference opponent
is a great one,” Troy said.
However, the UF women did not fare as well against
UT.
For the first time in 25 years, the No. 10 Lady Vols
took down the No. 2 Gators.
From the beginning, Tennessee (6-1, 3-1) dominated by
winning the first six events of the day. They never looked back
from that point, winning 12 of the 16 events, breaking five pool
records and one Tennessee record.
Florida (7-2, 3-2) could not manage to keep up with
Tennessee on their senior day and fell to their second SEC opponent
on the year, with the first coming to No. 5 Georgia.
Senior Sarah Bateman won both the 50 yard and 100
yard freestyle, two of the Gators' four victories on the day. The
other two events, the 200 yard backstroke and 200 yard IM, were won
by U.S. National Team members Elizabeth Beisel and Teresa Crippen,
respectively.
However, neither Beisel nor Crippen could overcome
the dominating performance by the Lady Vols. Troy knew of
Tennessee’s prowess going into the meet.
“The women’s team . . . has a whole lot of talent –
they may be one of the most talented in the country,” Troy said. He
continued by saying they are a potential top-10 team.
