The UF men's and women's swimming teams began the season in fine fashion with road wins over Virginia. Both teams improved to 8-0 all-time against the Cavaliers.
Led by three individual victories from senior Shaune Fraser, UF's men won their meet 159-141.
"It was a good meet for us; a lot of people swam well, and the coaches were pretty pleased with how we swam," Fraser said. "This was a good setup for the rest of the season."
Fraser won the 100- and 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley.
Fraser, who coach Gregg Troy expected to take a leadership role, showed his ability to be a team leader - putting the team's needs before his own.
He said the success he had this weekend was just a product of his striving to do his part for the team, irrespective of his personal goals.
"I just wanted to go out there and help the team as best as I could," Fraser said. "Especially during the collegiate season, I try to put the team first and put the team goals that we have first. I think if you do that, then the individual success will come along with it."
Despite the obvious success UF had this weekend, Fraser said the athletes didn't expect to perform as well as they did.
"Most of us were pleased, but we were pretty surprised with how fast we swam," he said.
"We weren't expecting it at all because we were pretty tired from training, it just shows where we can be at the end of the season, how good we can be."
He said these dual meets don't affect the end-of-the-season championships much, but having a win over UVA - a possible top-five team - on the road shows the athletes the potential they have.
"It definitely builds a lot of confidence," he said. "It just shows where we can be at the end."
The women won their meet 166.5-131.5, capturing 10 of the 16 events. They were led by sophomore Shara Stafford and senior Kara Salamone, both of whom won two events.
