From start to finish, it was a largely uneventful showing for the No. 17 Gators at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
The fourth and final day of the event in Columbus, Ohio, was relatively void of highlights for Florida. No Gators earned All-American honors after two earned three All-American Honorable Mention awards on Thursday and Friday.
Florida finished with 11 total points, tied for 35th overall. It’s an improvement from last year, when the Gators didn’t score any points for the first time in program history. Nevertheless, it’s still only the second time ever that Florida finished lower than 20th in the NCAA Championships.
"We had some real bright spots where we made improvement, but there are also spots where we need to get better,” coach Gregg Troy said in a release. “We're certainly not where we want to be and it is not the type of performance we want to see out of the women, but it is drastically better than last year.”
Highlights from the event as a whole include sophomore Brooke Madden’s two All-American Honorable Mentions in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events and sophomore Sherridon Dressel’s All-American Honorable Mention in the 100-yard back.
Senior Amelia Maughan ended her Florida career on a high note with a time of 48.75 in the 100-yard free, a personal-best and the ninth fastest time in program history.
Of the nine Gators who competed in the NCAA Championships, Maughan is the only one who will not return next season. Troy hopes this experience will lead to a brighter future for Florida.
“We have a great recruiting class coming in and we're bringing back some really strong people who raced here this year," he said. “We are moving in the right direction.”
Follow Sam Campisano on Twitter @samcampisano and contact him at scampisano@alligator.org.
Gregg Troy retired from being head coach of UF Swimming and Diving after spending 20 years in the position. “I’ve experienced countless memorable moments here at Florida," Troy said.
