Photo Courtesy: Peter H.Bick<\/p>\n
GAINESVILLE, Florida, October 2. The University of Florida men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams are in action this weekend (Oct. 3-5), as the Gators host the Pinch A Penny All Florida Invitational in the Stephen O\u2019Connell Center Natatorium. Both the men\u2019s and the women\u2019s squads will be looking for their fifth straight titles at this meet.<\/p>\n
The Gator women are coming off a 189.5-110.5 victory over Arkansas on Saturday, Sept. 27, where UF won 12 of 16 events during the dual meet. Meanwhile, Florida’s men sat idle and begin its season this weekend with the Invite.<\/p>\n
Six teams are coming into Gainesville for the Invite including, California, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Miami (FL), North Florida and Nova Southeastern. All six schools will be competing on the women’s side, however, only Florida State, Nova Southeastern and Miami (divers only) will be competing in the men’s Invite.<\/p>\n
For a complete schedule of events for the weekend, click here.<\/p>\n
Fans can finds stats on gatorzone.com following each day of prelims and finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still very early for us to make judgments on our team\u2019s performances, but the postseason format we are using should help. This weekend will be a great learning opportunity for younger student-athletes, and a nice refresher to our veterans. I\u2019m excited to see how both teams perform this weekend.\u201d \u2013 Head Coach Gregg Troy<\/p>\n
Florida rounds out its current three-week home stand when Southeastern Conference-rival LSU comes to Gainesville on Friday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m. The women’s squad will look to improve to 2-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC, while that meet will be the first dual for the UF men’s squad.<\/p>\n
Following last weekend’s dual meet against Arkansas, UF junior Natalie Hinds currently holds the nation’s top times in the 50-yard (22.40) and 100-yard (49.09) freestyle races. In addition, junior Sinead Russell and sophomore Jessica Thielmann have each posted the country’s top marks in the 100-yard backstroke (54.65) and 400-yard IM (4:21.22), respectively.<\/p>\n
The Gators also own the country’s top times in the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay (Lindsey McKnight, Sinead Russell, Ashlee Linn, Jessica Thielmann) with a time of 3:24.14 and the 200-yard medley relay (Sinead Russell, Lindsey McKnight, Sierra Kuhn, Natalie Hinds), as this group clocked a time of 1:40.22.<\/p>\n