The All-Florida Invitational is back in Gainesville this year after being held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last fall due to renovation work at the O’Connell Center. While the scenery may be different, the Florida men’s swimming and diving team is ready to participate in the event it placed first in last year.
“We’re four or five weeks into it now. We’ve been training, we’ve been building up, we’ve had a couple big weeks and we’re all in shape and ready to race,” senior Mark Szaranek said. “The freshmen have their first chance to race, and we have a couple international guys just like me.”
Szaranek, a Scottish native, has accrued numerous awards since he came to UF in 2014. A 14-time All-American, Szaranek was a national champion in the 200 IM last year as well as a member of the All-SEC First Team. Coming off that season, Szaranek’s goals are more focused on the team’s success, rather than his own accolades.
“We had a pretty good season as a whole last year,” he said. “Just keep doing what we’re doing, and hopefully keep improving. We can always take things to another level, and we’ll try and do that, try to pick everything up in training... Hopefully we’ll be here and ready to go.”
Szaranek was recruited by Michigan, Virginia Tech and Auburn, but it was the storied history of the UF swimming and diving team that lured him to Gainesville.
“The amount of Olympians that came out of this program is unmatched anywhere else,” he said. “The coaches are probably the best coaching staff in the world, and the training group that I’ve been with has been a great group to train with, and they always push me to be better.”
The women’s team is also hoping to improve upon last season.
Placing seventh in the SEC Championships, the program looks to seniors such as Brianna Felegi, Elisavet Panti and Amelia Maughan, a four-time All-American and SEC Champion in the 200 free two years ago. Freshman prospects Yekaterina Aslanidi, Bettina Boszormenyi and Adrianna DeBoer are expected to make an impact as well.
Like the men, the women’s team will compete this weekend aiming to replicate its performance at last year’s All-Florida Invitational, where it finished first.
As a whole, Florida’s swim teams are looking to come out strong and build off last year. But while expectations are high, Szaranek is simply thankful to be a part of of one of the SEC’s most dominant squads.
“That’s the one thing here in the U.S that’s different than back home in Scotland,” he said. “Back home it’s individual, about what you can do. But here it’s about team points and what I can do for my teammates.”
You can follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells, and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
The Florida swimming and diving team celebrates in the pool following its meet against Auburn on Jan. 23, 2016, in the O’Connell Center.
