The Southeastern Conference Championships are over for Florida’s swimming and diving teams. Now, the focus shifts solely to the national championship meet set to begin on March 27 in Austin, Texas.
Although the No. 8 women’s team came up short of their goals — placing third at SECs — it did qualify three more swimmers for the NCAA meet, bringing their total number to 15 NCAA “A” cut qualifications. Sophomore Sinead Russell leads the bunch with seven “A” cuts and competes in all five relays. Fellow sophomore Natalie Hinds and senior Elizabeth Beisel have six each.
“We qualified three more women for the NCAA meet and feel like we’re in a good position to move on,” coach Gregg Troy said.
“I was proud of the way they raced and their intensity in the meet, so I think it’s a good building point for them for what we’re looking at next month.”
Beisel managed to get one of her four individual “A” cuts by breaking the school record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:54.26.
The men went ballistic at SECs, coming in first for the second consecutive year. They set seven school records and qualified for three more events — including the lone relay that hadn’t made the cut.
But the competition took a lot out of both teams.
“They’re tired. Five days of racing is worse than two weeks of training,” Troy said. “Our preparation for the meet certainly wasn’t like the end of the year, so there’s a whole lot left in the tank. It’s a good dynamic from that point.”
NCAA Championships have been Troy’s focus since the season began in late September, and the Bulldog Last Chance Meet on Friday will be the Gators’ final opportunity to qualify swimmers for nationals.
Troy expects everyone who competes to make a run at qualifying, specifically redshirt sophomore Austin Manganiello, junior Billy Silva and sophomore Luke Torres, but said it would depend on how they respond to the dynamic.
The women’s team is more built for NCAAs compared to the conference meet, but Troy said they need to make roster revisions before he’s satisfied.
Both teams will need to improve on some technical issues over the next month, namely breakouts.
Troy believes his men’s team can improve on its performance at SECs.
“I don’t think we have anyone that can’t go faster than what we did this weekend,” he said.
Follow Logan McGuire on Twitter @loganjmcguire
