Florida’s win against Florida State on Saturday was a solid start to the spring season, but coach Gregg Troy is already looking toward the Southeastern Conference and NCAA meets.
He has been all season.
"We wanted to make sure that we came into the season and start the year off very fit," Troy said. "It’s a long season at the end. We’ve got a couple real big dual meets at the end of January.
"You’ve got a full month between the conference and the NCAA meet, and if you haven’t laid a good ground work, it’s very hard to be good at the conference and still come back and be good at the NCAA meet."
Florida had just come out of a six-week training cycle before the Florida State meet where Troy addressed strength issues to ensure his swimmers would have the power and endurance they will need come February and March.
Despite Saturday’s win, he was critical of the men’s work around the walls and said their relay starts were "average at best," but it wasn’t his biggest worry.
"The men’s concern is it’s always good to be competitive in the SEC," Troy said. "It’s a great competition, but you don’t what to leave too much in the tank if you lose too much there, and we’ve got 10 guys we feel like are already going to get to the NCAA meet.
"They’re very focused on that, so there are some big goals out there. But we’ve got some other ones along the way. Trying to keep all that together at the same time is going to be tough to do."
Troy called the SEC Championships, which are scheduled for mid-February, a "very highly competitive SEC meet." Florida will face some of the best women’s teams in the country, including No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 4 Georgia and No. 15 Tennessee
The Gators women will need to improve their depth, which has been a weakness all season.
But Hilda Luthersdottir has turned a weak spot into a strength for the Gators.
In September, breaststroke events were question marks for Florida. But in January, her 100- and 200-yard breast both rank in the nation’s top 10 times this season.
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Florida swimmers line up to begin the men’s open 400-meter individual medley during the Pinch A Penny All Florida Invitational on Sept. 28 in the O’Connell Center.
