After a disappointing performance a week ago for both the UF men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams in Athens, the No. 5 men’s squad (3-1, 2-1 Southeastern conference) came back strong this past weekend by defeating Minnesota 167-125. It was the close races that the Gators could not claim versus the Bulldogs over a week ago that led to the losses, but against the Golden Gophers, the men’s team won those close races to earn their third victory of the season. The same cannot be said for the UF women (3-2, 3-1 SEC) as they conceded those close races for the second straight meet, losing to the No. 10 ranked Minnesota women, 183-117.
“Our meet this past weekend, (I’m) really proud the way everyone came off the week before with the disappointment at Georgia,” said coach Gregg Troy. “On the men’s side, we responded tremendously well, the guys stood up and raced extremely well. We saw a couple guys come back from illnesses and starting to look the way they did before they were ill, which is always good.”
Corey Main was one of those who was ill and came back nicely for the Gators, winning the 200-yard backstroke (1:46.39) and contributed to the victory in the 200-yard medley relay in the meet’s second event.
“On the women’s side, a little like the men the week before, we were in the meet the whole way but we just lost a lot of close races,” said Troy. “There were 11 real close races decided by two-tenths of a second and we lost nine of those. That’s just an area we got to improve upon but the intensity in the racing and what they did in the approach, we stood up all season long and stood up and raced well so I’m real proud of the performance.”
The women hope to increase their depth and it started this past week with Georgia Hohmann coming back from an illness and Ashlee Linn coming back from a sliced finger, which occurred in the classroom. Both girls raced well outstanding this past weekend, according to Troy. And while the women have lost back-to-back meets to fall to 3-2 overall, Troy still sees a lot of positives from this group.
“I think we’re pretty resilient. We found from a fitness standpoint we’ve done a great job this fall. We found out a lot about ourselves in being able to respond. One of the best things about being at Florida is you get everyone’s best shot. The plus to that is it keeps us sharp, keeps us prepared, and gives you a great chance to evaluate where you have to be in the spring.”
Before the Gators get to the spring, they will race two more times before the end of the calendar year - Nov. 20-22 in Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Invitational and then Dec. 4-6 in Greensboro, North Carolina for the U.S. Nationals.
Follow Aaron Friedland on Twitter @Aafriedland
