The surging Florida swimming and diving teams will be in Athens, Georgia, today to swim against the Bulldogs at the Gabrielsen Natatorium.
The biggest matchup between Florida and Georgia may be in Jacksonville on Saturday, but the rivalry in the pool shouldn’t go unnoticed. All four swimming teams come into the meet ranked in the top 11 nationally and have a combined record of 9-2.
UF’s men’s team, which enters the week ranked third in the country, is 3-1 so far this season thanks to victories over Florida Atlantic, LSU and most recently No. 5 Texas. The Gators will look to continue the fast start by adding another top-10 victory to their resume with a win over No. 9 Georgia on Friday.
Last season, Florida upended the Bulldogs 179-121 in Gainesville, and it will look to do the same thing this time around in Athens.
Freshman Kieran Smith and juniors Khader Baqlah and Grant Sanders helped pace the Gators in last weekend’s tri-meet, and they will need to have similar success on Friday against Georgia if UF hopes to win.
Smith is among the top 5 in the country with the fourth-best time in the 200-yard free and the fifth best in the 400-yard individual medley. Baqlah is coming off a 500-yard free individual title last weekend and has top-10 national times in four different events. Sanders, a Tampa native, led Florida with the fastest time in the NCAA with a 3:50.61 finish in the 400-yard individual medley in his last meet.
In the 200-yard IM, Sanders has the second-fastest time in the country.
The 10th-ranked women’s team will try to win its sixth meet of the season against No. 11 UGA (1-0), which in recent years has been a tough task for UF. Florida has been winless against the Bulldogs since the 2006-2007 campaign when the Gators picked up a home win in Gainesville. If the women win on Friday, it’ll be their first victory in Athens in 25 years.
It’s also a bit of a homecoming meet for women’s head coach Jeff Poppell, who competed at UGA as a swimmer and graduated from the university in 1993. What a homecoming it would be for Poppell if his team were to be victorious over the Bulldogs for the first time in over a decade.
The Gators have three of the nation’s top-10 times in the 400-yard individual medley coming into Friday’s meet. The trio of junior Kelly Fertel (5th), freshman Vanessa Pearl (6th) and fellow freshman Mabel Zavaros (10th) have continued to impress in the individual medley events and beyond.
In the freestyle events, UF has two swimmers who have exceeded expectations so far this season. Sophomore Taylor Ault holds the ninth-best time in the country in both the 500-yard free and 1,000-yard free, while Ault’s teammate, freshman Leah Braswell, has the nation’s 12th and 11th best times in those same events.
Friday’s meet gets underway early from Athens with an 11 a.m. start.
Follow Evan Lepak on Twitter @evanmplepak or contact him at elepak@alligator.org.
The UF men's and women's swimming are in Athens, Georgia, to take on the Georgia Bulldogs.
