Florida’s swimming and diving teams will be back in action this weekend, matching up against two of the better swimming and diving programs in the country in Texas and Indiana. The meet is scheduled for today and Saturday and will take place in Austin, Texas, at the University of Texas Swimming Center.
The No. 8 Gators men’s team sits at 2-0 after a couple of blowout victories to start the season. Things figure to be different this weekend, however, with Texas (0-0) being ranked No. 1, while Indiana (3-0) comes in ranked third.
Last season, the Gators split the meetings with Texas, winning the regular season matchup but losing in the NCAA Championships. The Hoosiers defeated Florida twice last season, once in the regular season and also in the NCAA Championships.
Junior Maxime Rooney continues to shine for the men, picking up SEC Men’s Swimmer of the Week honors after winning two individual events against LSU. Rooney holds times that are in the top 15 nationally: the 100-yard butterfly (7th), 200-yard butterfly (11th) and the 100-yard freestyle (15th).
Fellow junior Grant Sanders is third nationally in the 200-yard individual medley, and his time in the 200-yard breast is the ninth-fastest in the country.
Freshman Trey Freeman was named SEC Men’s Freshman of the Week for the second-straight week on Tuesday after another impressive showing against LSU. Freeman won the 1000-yard freestyle with the fastest time in the SEC at 9:02.58.
The No. 19 Florida women’s team will be tested this weekend. It’ll put its undefeated record on the line against No. 4 Texas (0-0) and No. 6 Indiana (2-0-1). Both teams out-played UF in last season’s matchups, but early success this year should give the Gators some confidence heading into the weekend.
Freshman Vanessa Pearl continues to receive accolades after her successful start to the season. The McKinney, Texas, native was named SEC Women’s Swimmer of the Week for the second time in as many weeks. She collected three individual wins against LSU last weekend, and her time of 4:13.32 in the 400-yard individual medley is the fourth-fastest time in the country.
Mabel Zavaros is another freshman in Florida’s lineup who has impressed this season. She holds the eighth-fastest NCAA time in the 400-yard individual medley, and the 10th-fastest times in the both the 200-yard back and 200-yard butterfly.
The meet is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on today and 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Follow Evan Lepak @evanmplepak or contact him at elepak@alligator.org.
The Florida men's and women's swimming and diving times compete in Austin, Texas, this weekend in an event hosted by the Texas Longhorns. The UF men enter the meet ranked No. 8, while the women have a national rank of No. 19.
