The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams finished second at the 2010 Southeastern Conference Championship Meet.
The men’s team finished with 765 points while Auburn took first with 784. The women finished with 698 points as Georgia pulled away with 824.5.
“I am really, really proud of the way both of our teams came out and raced tough this whole week,” said UF coach Gregg Troy, who won SEC Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year. “We had a couple opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of, but we qualified most of the people we needed for NCAAs and had some outstanding swims.
“Overall, our entire coaching staff is very proud of our team and their effort this week.”
In the four days of competition, the Gators had a total of 14 SEC titles, eight for the women and six for the men. As expected, SEC Women’s Swimmer of the Year Gemma Spofforth stood out. Spofforth won or helped win the 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestyle relay, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke.
SEC Women’s Diver of the Year Kara Salamone started the meet with a win in the one-meter diving competition and ended it with a win in the platform competition.
“Coming into this week, I felt like we could do really good on the diving boards and win some events,” said UF diving coach Donnie Craine, who earned SEC Diving Coach of the Year. “This has been an outstanding week, not only for Kara, but for all of our divers. Now we hope to carry this momentum to NCAA Zone Diving.”
On the men’s side, senior Shaune Fraser was responsible for three of the titles, placing first as a member of the 800-yard freestyle relay team, first in the 200-yard individual medley and first in the 100-yard butterfly.
Junior Conor Dwyer, who was the anchor on the 800-yard freestyle relay team and winner of the 200- and 500-yard freestyle, was named the SEC Men’s Swimmer of the Year.
