The first meet of the season for the Florida women’s swimming and diving team went exactly how they wanted it to go.
Coach Gregg Troy may not agree, but a win is a win and that is what it is all about.
Florida (1-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) defeated SEC opponent Arkansas (0-1, SEC 0-1) fairly easily after taking 12 of 16 events en route to a 189.5-110.5 victory on Saturday at the O’Connell Center.
The win increased the Gators all-time record in season openers to 42-2 with a 14-1 record in SEC debuts.
Junior Natalie Hinds led the Gators, claiming three individual wins along with contributing to the 200-yard medley relay team victory (1:40.22).
Hinds won the 50-yard freestyle (22.49 seconds), 100-yard freestyle (49.08) and 100-yard butterfly (54.75) on Saturday.
As a holder of two individual team records, Hinds showed the type of leader she is and what kind of leader she can be for this swim team.
But for Troy, he will continue to look to others for more leadership.
"Obviously Natalie Hinds is a quality athlete. She gets up and races well," Troy said. "But we’re going to have to have a few more go-to people."
Following Hinds’ big day was Kahlia Warner who led the Gators diving squad with two first place finishes in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving event.
Warner finished the 1-meter dive with a meet-best 290.55, more than 25 points better than second-place finisher and teammate Delanie Dye. She won the 3-meter dive by more than 55 points.
It was the debut for coach Dale Schultz, who came over to Florida from Arkansas, so it was an awkward first meet for the coach to say the least.
"It was tough because I kept watching the Arkansas divers in the water during the warmups and thinking, ‘oh I missed their dive’, but it was good," Schultz said.
"It’s good to get the first one out of the way with the transition that has happened."
Schultz takes over for Donnie Craine, who died in a boating accident in April.
It was an overall positive first step for the women’s squad to get a good win against a conference opponent heading into the Pinch A Penny All Florida Invitational, which begins on Friday and concludes Sunday at the O’Connell Center.
The women will be joined by the men’s team as they will make their season debut in the Invitational as both squads go for their fifth consecutive title at this event.
Follow Aaron Friedland on Twitter @aafriedland
Junior Natalie Hinds competes in the 100-yard butterfly during Florida's 189.5-110.5 win against Arkansas on Saturday in the O'Connell Center
