Florida swimming coach Gregg Troy assessed the Gators’ rivalry with Florida State after Wednesday’s meet, with one word: fierce.
“It’s a really fierce meet, and it’s a really important meet for us. We certainly don’t ever plan on losing to them.”
The Florida men beat Florida State, 175-121, while the women earned a nearly identical 176-119 victory.
On the men’s side, it was the younger swimmers who carried the load. After letting a victory against Georgia last week get away from them, Troy said the Gators squandered the meet due to a slew of mistakes that he attributed to inexperience.
Freshmen Matt Elliott, Matthew Curby and Eduardo Solaeche were three of the driving forces behind the Gators’ victory. Solaeche took home the 200-yard breaststroke, Elliott took home the 100 breast and Curby earned a victory in the 100 backstroke. Both Elliott and Curby were also a part of Florida’s 200 medley relay team, which also placed first.
“Some of the younger guys raced really well today,” Troy said. “They really needed that. They needed a chance to get in some close races and get their hand on the wall first, and that’s what they did.”
Other strong performances for Florida came courtesy of junior Jason Taylor as well as sophomores Brad DeBorde and Marcin Cieslak, who won two races apiece.
It was a familiar script for the Florida women, as the team relied on the exploits of standouts Elizabeth Beisel, Teresa Crippen, Sarah Bateman and Jamie Bohunicky to coast to a comfortable victory.
Bateman turned in the best performance of the four, touching the wall first in the 50 and 100 freestyle, as well as the 100 butterfly.
Bohunicky, a Gainesville native, continued her dominance in freestyle events by taking the 200- and 500-yard races.
The win against Florida State is the first meet in another busy stretch for the Florida women, who now head to Ann Arbor, Mich., to take on Michigan and Stanford in separate meets on Friday and Saturday.
