Having spent the majority of its season away from the O’Connell Center, the Gators men’s swimming and diving team has grown accustomed to life on the road.
The Gators, who had only one home meet due to the renovations made to the O’Connell Center, will endure yet another upcoming road test starting March 22 in Indianapolis.
This time, however, the test will be for the NCAA Championship.
“I think swimming on the road helped everyone get some exposure to unique dynamics,” said coach Gregg Troy. “We went to places that were either unenthusiastic or little bit of a hostile crowd.”
Florida’s men’s swimming and diving team will look to use its experience on the road to put an exclamation mark on its season at the NCAA Championship meet at Indiana University in Indianapolis, which runs from Wednesday to Saturday.
The Gators, which qualified 13 swimmers, will have the fourth-largest showing at the championships.
Representing UF in Indianapolis will be Brennan Balogh, Khader Baglah, Andrew Brady, Chandler Bray, Mitch D’Arrigo, Caeleb Dressel, Ben Lawless, Alex Lebed, Blake Manganiello, Ross Palazzo, Maxime Rooney, Jan Switkowski and Mark Szaranek.
The Gators also qualified in all five of the relay events — the 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard freestyle relay, 800-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay.
The lone representative for the Gators on the diving board will be sophomore Samuel Smith, who will be competing in both the 1-meter and platform event after meeting qualifying times at the Zone B Championships in Auburn, Alabama, which concluded on March 8.
Smith, who placed seventh in the 1-meter (668.65) and eighth on the platform (659.20) will be making his second-straight appearance at the NCAA championship for the Gators.
“This will keep the Gators relevant on the national scene,” said diving coach Bryan Gillooly. “Sam will be looking to improve on last year's performance.”
Five Gators — Baglah, Brady, Bray, Palazzo and Rooney — will be making their national championship debut.
Baglah will compete in the 200-yard freestyle, Brady the 1650 freestyle, Bray the 100-yard breaststroke, Palazzo the 200-yard breastroke and Rooney in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events.
The remaining eight Gator swimmers all have national championship experience.
The most experienced and notable of the bunch, Caeleb Dressel, will compete in his usual 100-yard butterfly and both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events.
Balogh will compete in the 400-yard individual medley and the 200-yard backstroke. Lebed will compete in the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys.
Manganiello and Lawless will both compete in the 1650 freestyle, and Switkowski will compete in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard butterfly.
Szaranek and D’Arrigo will both compete in three events each. Szaranek will compete in the 200-yard butterfly, as well as the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys. D’Arrigo will compete in the 200-yard, 500-yard and 1650 freestyle events.
Contact Sean Denison at sdenison@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @seandenison.
UF head coach Gregg Troy (right) and associate head coach Jeff Poppell (left) celebrate during Florida's 183-117 win against Tennessee on Jan. 28, 2017, in the O'Connell Center.
