Division II Meet Preview: Tampa Faces Off Against Indian River

Photo Courtesy: Tampa Athletics

With January underway, teams across the country are settling into winter training and refocusing on their conference meets at the end of the year. While the heavy training during this time of year can lead to mixed results come race time, there are still plenty of match-ups to keep your eye on this coming week.

Meet of the Week: Indian River vs. Tampa

The University of Tampa will face NJCAA powerhouse Indian River State College for the second time this season on Friday, January 6th. The two teams have previously met this season at the 2016 Spartan Invitational, which was a close contest between both teams. The Indian River men won narrowly over Tampa 955 to 937, while on the women’s side that order was reversed. The Spartan women finished just ahead of Indian River, 695 to 683, at that meet, which means this should one of the closest dual meets for both teams so far this season.

At last year’s meet the Tampa men came out on top 154.5 to 107.5 while the women’s scores were almost exactly flipped, this time with Indian River winning 154 to 108. In the women’s meet, both of these teams line up remarkably well, with Indian River having a slight edge in the sprint events while Tampa has a slight edge in the 200’s of stroke and 200 IM. In order to come away with the win, Tampa is going to have to make sure Indian River’s depth in the sprint events doesn’t get the best of them, especially in the relays whose winning points are magnified in the dual meet format. If they are able to do that and get a couple wins from Brittany Bayes (distance) or Sophie Long (butterfly) in the events where they have less depth, they may be able to beat Indian River for the second time this year.

On the men’s side it is a similar story, but Indian River’s men are deeper in the middle distance and stroke events relative to their women’s team. Senior Martin Hammer will need to help keep the relays in the mix, and beyond that the Spartan men are going to need some big swims during this meet just to stay competitive. The meet will kick off Friday afternoon at Indian River.

Florida Southern vs. Emory

Florida Southern University will take on Division III opponent Emory this Saturday at home in what will likely be another close meet. Emory’s women are the defending NCAA Champions, while their men are poised for what would be a historic run at a men’s NCAA Championship with the return of breaststroker Andrew Wilson.

Florida Southern could keep the men’s meet close depending on how they react to Emory’s strengths. The Eagles are very deep in the sprint free and breaststroke events, and also have all the pieces to put together strong medley and free relays. Florida Southern will need to their depth in the backstroke and butterfly events to back up senior Marco Palacios, who could easily take three individual events, and win at least one of the relays in order to keep themselves in the hunt.

The women’s meet will be tougher for Florida Southern to come away with a win, but may be able to pull off upsets in a few key events to keep it close. The key for both Florida Southern teams will be to get their depth swimmers ready to go for every event to try and prevent Emory from tying up the meet too early. The competition will begin Saturday at noon.

Grand Valley vs. Wayne State

Grand Valley State University will host GLIAC conference rival Wayne State University this Saturday at home. GVSU is the defending conference champions and are coming off a successful mid-season meet at the 2016 Calvin Winter Invitational. This should be a much anticipated meet, as GVSU and Wayne State are the two best teams in the GLIAC conference. The Grand Valley men won the conference championship last year, while Wayne State won the women’s title.

While the Wayne State women are the defending conference champions, Grand Valley may be going into this dual meet with a slight advantage. A big piece of the GVSU women’s team will be senior Leonie Van Noort, the defending NCAA champion in the 200 and 1650 freestyles, who has been on fire this season and should be able to contribute to three individual wins and a relay. While the Lakers will be strong in the distance events and 200’s of stroke, they need to make manage their relative weakness in the sprints to make sure the Warriors don’t sneak in extra points.

The men’s meet should be a similarly close contest, with Grand Valley once again going into the meet with a slight advantage. Junior Gabriel Souza leads a deep sprint group for the the Lakers that should help them to relay wins and several individual wins across stroke and sprint free events. Even in the events where the Lakers may not have the top swimmer in a head to head matchup, Grand Valley’s depth should still be able to mitigate any wins Wayne State may be able to pull out. The meet will begin Saturday afternoon at 1:00.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use