With the Southeastern Conference Championships a week away, the Gators swimming and diving teams have found answers for the remaining question marks on their roster.
However, Florida is not about to tip its hand, waiting until SECs to unveil the lineup.
“We’ve pretty much decided who we’re going to swim. The athletes know,” coach Gregg Troy said.
“They’re all real good swimmers, and we’re just not going to divulge that.”
But it was not an easy decision for Troy. It’s one he has been wrestling with for weeks.
The result is six swimmers on the men’s squad being left out — swimmers who could compete for most of the other schools in what might be the best conference in the country, Troy said.
The 22-man roster — 19 swimmers and three divers — will travel to Atlanta on Sunday for the five-day conference meet beginning on Feb. 18.
But the season is not over for the ones who did not make it.
The final meet to qualify for NCAAs, the Bulldog Last Chance Meet, will follow SECs from March 1-2. Georgia will host as Florida, Auburn, Missouri, LSU, Kentucky, Alabama and Arkansas make up the eight-team pool.
The Gators will also be looking to qualify swimmers for the national meet at the SEC Championships.
“It’s kind of unique because we’ve got a group of athletes that at the conference meet if they’re not real good there it’s probably the end of the season,” Troy said.
“And some of those really need to qualify for the NCAA meet.”
Then there is the group of 21 swimmers who already have registered NCAA “A” cuts.
Troy knows the pressure will not be as big for them as the others at SECs.
But he is still looking for swimmers like redshirt senior Sebastien Rousseau, seniors Marcin Cielsak and Brad deBorde on the men’s side and sophomore sprinter Natalie Hinds and seniors Elizabeth Beisel and Ellse Zalewski for the women to step up and deliver at the conference meet, but not tire themselves out.
“We’d like to make sure that there’s still plenty of gas left in the tank for the [NCAA] meet,” Troy said. “They’ve got dual focuses.”
Follow Logan McGuire on Twitter @loganjmcguire
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.
