Despite notching a season-high 14 NCAA qualifying times and racing one of their fastest meets of the year, the Gators couldn’t spoil Auburn’s Senior Day celebration Friday afternoon.
Florida trailed in both men’s and women’s events for most of the meet, losing by a combined 64 points. However, UF still received the same, solid output from their top two swimmers on each team.
For the No. 5 men, senior duo Conor Dwyer and Brett Fraser combined for seven NCAA cuts, five season-best times and two individual wins. Their No. 6 female counterparts, freshman Elizabeth Beisel and junior Sarah Bateman, were also dominant with six qualifying times including two season-bests, and three victories individually.
The Gators ran into trouble early when trying to replace the points usually grabbed by injured junior diver Anthony Lewark and women’s relay swimmer Shara Stafford.
“We weren’t as fresh as we would’ve liked to have been for the meet, and unfortunately, Auburn has a lot of depth in the sprints and the relays,” Bateman said.
Coming into the Auburn meet, Lewark had racked up a team-high seven diving wins. In his absence with a back injury, Florida missed out on winning either the one- or three-meter dive for the first time this year in a dual meet.
While missing a key diver was an issue, the Gators also struggled in the relays.
Stafford, a junior, has been a part of four season-high relay times and is the team’s third leading points scorer. Without Stafford to help anchor the 400-yard freestyle relay and 200-yard medley relay, Florida dropped both events and left 22 points in the pool.
Coach Gregg Troy could not be reached for comment Friday night as to why Stafford was not at the meet.
“She can really swim anything so it took a lot of us to fill in for what she usually swims,” Bateman said.
Even with their struggles in the dives and relays, the Gators found a way close the Tigers’ lead by the 15th event of the evening.
The men’s team swept the 200-yard butterfly with sophomore Sebastien Rousseau leading the way with an NCAA “B” cut of 1:46.04.
Bateman won the 50-yard freestyle for the women to cut deeper into Auburn’s lead.
But just when Florida thought it had clawed back in reach of the No. 6 Tigers, Adam Brown, the defending SEC Swimmer of the Week, swept Florida in the 50-yard freestyle. The Tigers’ lead was back to 20 and continued to swell towards a 34-point victory for Brown on Senior Day.
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