Gators Gear Up for Eighth Annual All-Florida Invitational

Florida’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams open their season Friday with the eighth annual All-Florida Invitational returning to Gainesville.

Last year, the All-Florida Invitational was held in Fort Lauderdale due to renovations being done on the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. However, that didn’t stop the Gators from taking home their seventh consecutive All-Florida Invitational title in last year’s meet.

Now that the meet is back home, and their season is about to begin, the Gators are looking to claim their eighth consecutive title. Also, Florida is not the only college competing today. They will be joined by Miami and Florida State.

MEET DAY!!!! Come to the O'Dome to support your Gators at the All-Florida meet! Hope you are
as excited as we are! 🐊🐊🐊#GoGators pic.twitter.com/0NUeeMkS5B

— Gators Swimming & Diving (@GatorsSwimDv) September 22, 2017

In an interview with Katie Callahan for FloridaGators.com, Florida head coach Gregg Troy provided some insight of this meet and what is could mean for this season.

“This meet is a great opportunity to see where we are at the beginning of the season,” Troy said. “The goal is to see what skills we need to develop more and what areas of weakness we need to strengthen.”

Last Year’s Meet

Both Florida’s men’s and women’s teams finished first last year at the All-Florida Invitational. Over the three-day meet, the men’s team earned 1,099 points and the women tallied 1,076.

Women’s Swimming and Diving

This year, there are eight returning members for the women who won 12 titles between them during last year’s meet.

At the All-Florida Invitational in 2016, Emma Ball, who is now a sophomore, led the women’s team by finishing first in three events: 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay.

Men’s Swimming and Diving

On the men’s side, the team welcomes back 12 members who claimed 10 first-place finishes.

At the All-Florida Invitational in 2016, Mark Szaranek, who is now a senior, led the men’s team. He claimed three individual wins in the 200 fly, 200 free and 200 IM, as well as two relay titles.

Looking Ahead

In addition to the season beginning today, both the men’s and women’s teams will add 10 fresh faces to their rosters.

The meet begins with the women’s 200 freestyle relay on Friday at 10 a.m. The finals session is currently set for Friday night at 7 p.m.

Here are the details about All-Florida!

Fri: Prelims-10am, finals-7pm

Sat: Prelims-9am, finals-4pm

Sun: Prelims-9am, finals to follow pic.twitter.com/XqvC7CwzfU

— Gators Swimming & Diving (@GatorsSwimDv) September 21, 2017