Next Up, the SEC Championships for Swimming and Diving

The University of Florida men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams finished the regular 2016 season with a victory over Tennessee on Saturday in the Allen Joes Aquatic Center.

The #3 men’s team posted a 185-115 win over the #12 ranked Tennessee team and the women ended the meet with a 170-130 final score over the #13 ranked Lady Vols.

Two members of the University of Florida men’s swimming and diving team have been honored with the title of Southeastern Conference Swimmers of the Week. The SEC announced the recognition of swimmers Caeleb Dressel and Brennan Balogh on Tuesday, following the Gator’s 185-115 traveling victory over Tennessee on January 30.

Head Coach Gregg Troy talks about this being a great season for Caeleb Dressel and the entire men’s team.

Dressel finished the meet raking up 38 of the Gators total 185 points. He received the SEC Swimmer of the Week award after his four-win performance against the Volunteers in the very last meet of the regular season. He came out with two NCAA ‘B’ cut times in the 100-Yard Breaststroke and the 200-Yard IM. Dressel also posted top times in the 50-Yard Breaststroke and 200-Yard Medley Relay.

Balogh also had an outstanding finish to the regular season coming out with Top-4 finished in all four of his races and the conference’s SEC Freshman Swimmer of the Week Award.

On the women’s side, Senior Jessica Thielmann came out on top with the 11th-fastest national time in the 1,000-Yard freestyle for this season. She then went on to win the 500-Yard freestyle.

Senior Natalie Hinds also showed up to win on Saturday taking victories in the 50-Yard and 100-Yard freestyle races.

Troy talks about both teams really focusing on improving how they finish and push themselves to get better in each race.

The Gator team is hoping to keep this momentum going after wrapping up their season with wins in 10-of-14 swimming events.

The Gator’s men and women’s teams are now preparing to travel to Columbia, Missouri, where they will compete in the SEC Championship from February 16-20.Both teams will be competing in a short-course (25-Yard pool) format, which is a switch up from previous meets.

Troy says he is always proud to be a Gator and both teams are looking to come out strong in this years SEC Championship meet.