With the collegiate swimming and diving regular season nearing a close, the college careers for captains senior Elizabeth Beisel and redshirt senior Sebastien Rousseau are coming to an end as well. Saturday’s dual meet against Auburn will mark the final home meet for the two Olympians along with five other seniors on the women’s side and six more for the men.
The senior class of 13 includes four Olympians, two Olympic medals, five individual NCAA Championships and 81 All-American honors from the past three years. And the group is not done yet.
Beisel has notched three NCAA ‘A’ cuts, Rousseau has two and Marcin Cieslak, Ellese Zalewski and Alicia Mathieu all have one, which guarantees five Florida seniors spots at nationals in Minneapolis, Minn., on March 20.
But first Florida will face off against Auburn and use this highly competitive meet as preparation for the postseason.
“These are high level dress rehearsals and the results matter on the day, but the reality is that we’ve had years where the meet has been close (with Auburn) but we’ve been distanced from each other at the end of the year,” coach Gregg Troy said. “That has gone both ways.”
The eighth-ranked UF women have gone 1-2 against No. 12 Auburn in dual meets throughout the past three seasons while the No. 2 UF men are 2-1 when matched up with No. 10 Auburn throughout the same span. Auburn’s men had captured 16 straight Southeastern Conference Championships before being dethroned by Florida in 2013.
This will also be the biggest threat to the men’s 21-dual meet win streak this season in a matchup that could come down to the final events.
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Senior Sebastien Rousseau swims the butterfly in the men’s 400-meter individual medley on Aug. 28 in the Pinch A Penny All Florida Invitational. Rousseau and the Gators start competition at the NCAA Championships today.
