GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida men’s swimming and diving teams welcome in-state rival Florida State for the annual Sunshine Showdown on Nov. 8 at 2:00 p.m.
Florida (5-1) heads into the meet with the Seminoles coming off a home-opener that saw the team secure its’ first conference win of the season after beating the Bulldogs by a final score of 163-118.
In that win versus Georgia, six different Gators won eight individual events, including taking the top-three spots in the 50 free, 100 fly and 100 breast. Florida would sweep the 200 medley and 400 free relays as well.
Kieran Smith, this week’s SEC Men’s Swimmer of the Week, produced the fastest 200 free time in the nation while Clark Beach, Khader Baqlah and Smith all secured B-cuts in the meet.
Through their first six meets, seven Gators have produced 13 top-five times, in addition to four top-five swims nationally.
Series History
The Gators and Seminoles have a long history against each other, facing each other 82 times since 1956.
UF holds an overall advantage of 58-23-1 and will look to extend their current eight-meet win streak with Florida State.
The Seminoles last defeated UF in 2010-11 in Tallahassee by a final score of 184-116.
Looking at the Seminoles
The Seminoles come to Gainesville possessing an overall record of 3-1 and an ACC mark of 2-1. The team is on a three-meet win streak after suffering a loss in their season opener to Notre Dame. Over that span, the team has beaten Duke, Minnesota and Georgia Tech and have outscored their opponents 510-390.
Those wins have carried over to success in the ACC Weekly awards. Diver Joshua Davison was named Diver of the Week in back-to-back weeks after sweeping the diving events against Duke and Minnesota.
Valdimir Stefanik won Swimmer of the Week after posting a three-win performance over Duke in their first win of the season.
Peter Varjesi leads the Seminoles with the fastest time in the 50 and 100 free, while Griffin Alaniz leads FSU’s back stroke efforts, posting team-best swims in the 100 and 200.
Quotables
Head coach Anthony Nesty– “Our team is excited to back in our home pool for the second straight dual against a tough opponent in Florida State. I am looking forward to seeing how our team responds after last week’s meet. Tomorrow should be a good test for us.”
Head diving coach Bryan Gillooly- “Florida State is always a tough matchup on the diving side. Most of their roster are upperclassmen with a lot of national and international experience and John is a great coach. We see a lot of them throughout the season so although it’s pretty competitive, it’s always a lot of fun.”
Looking Ahead
The meet with Florida State will mark the Gators’ final dual of 2019.
Swimmers and divers will each travel to different invitationals to wrap up competition in 2019 as the swimmers will travel to Atlanta to compete in the Georgia Tech Invitational on Nov. 22-24.
The divers will take part in the Auburn Diving Invitational on Dec. 17-19 in Auburn, Ala.
The men will be back in pool for their final home meet of the season against Auburn on Jan. 25 at 10:00 a.m.
