One of the questions facing the Florida women’s swimming team coming into this weekend’s double dual meet with Michigan and Stanford was if fatigue caused by a busy start to the season would affect its performance.
As it turned out, the Gators’ tired legs were just fine in their sweep of the Cardinal and the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Mich. Florida beat Stanford 194-169 and won against Michigan by a score of 206-159.
The Gators’ early season breakout star Jamie Bohunicky continued her dominance of freestyle events with a victory in the 1,000-yard event. She has now earned a victory in every meet this season.
“She continues to impress me with how well she’s done,” said coach Gregg Troy of the Gainesville native. “She has been a key factor for us and just continues to improve with each and every meet.”
The other two wins for the Gators on Saturday came from sophomore Elizabeth Beisel and freshman Rebecca Rainer. Beisel won the 200 backstroke, while Rainer took home the 200 breaststroke.
Aside from the fact that three teams were competing rather than the usual two in a dual meet format; the weekend had another unusual quality. Friday’s races were held on an Olympic-style long course, while Saturday’s competition was held on the more familiar NCAA short course. Troy said that he found the format helpful because it allowed him to better analyze his swimmers.
“This weekend was a unique meet. It allowed us to see a lot of different looks from our swimmers,” said Troy.
Overall Florida’s head coach was pleased with his team’s performance, especially against such a high level of competition.
“We went up against a good Michigan team and a very strong Stanford team. It’s the best competition we’ve seen all year,” said Troy. “I think that we competed extremely well, especially after swimming on Wednesday night.”
