Florida & Virginia Split Dual Meets in two Barn-Burners

It was no surprise that the dual meet between the Florida Gators and the Virginia Cavaliers was a barn burner on both sides. All four squads are likely to be in the top 10 this season, and the meet produced several times that stand as the best in the Nation early on in this season.

The Florida Women pulled it out 150-148, though the Virginia women arguably looked stronger in the meet. Florida rode high on the back of freshman Elizabeth Beisel, who won two individual events (200 IM, 200 back) and was second in another (200 free). While these early season meets aren’t entirely relevant to end-of-year results, it’s great to see the competitiveness and tight racing from both sides. This sets a great tone for the season to come.

On the men’s side, Virginia nipped Florida 153-145, which Virginia hopes will springboard them to a top 6 finish in what is a make-or-break season for them, as they are graduating a very important group after this season.

Meet Highlights:

• The women’s meet was highlighted by the 200 free, which was a showdown between Virginia sophomore Lauren Perdue and Florida freshman Elizabeth Beisel. Perdue led the race wire-to-wire, but thanks to a great finishing kick, Beisel made it very tight (she outsplit Perdue 27.27-27.67 on the last 50). Perdue ended up winning in 1:47.33, with Beisel in 1:47.42.
• A season after both teams lost their best 100 backstrokers in school history, the race was won by Shara Stafford of Florida. Her time of 55.26 sliced a few tenths off of her mark from last week’s All-Florida Invite, but left her behind teammate Beisel, who has the best time in the nation so far this year.
• Elizabeth Shaw of Virginia put up a very impressive early-season 1:57.95 to win the 200 fly, and could prove to be some unexpected points for the Cavaliers this season. She also had a 54.54 in the 100, which is the third best time this season.
• Lauren Perdue became the first woman in the country to break 50 seconds in the 100 freestyle this season, by way of a 49.99 in winning the individual 100. Perdue is a serious National Title contender this year in both the 50 and 100 freestyles.
• Beisel showed how deadly she will be this year, even as a freshman, by going a 2:00.89 in the 200 IM. This gives her the two fastest times in the country this year, with nobody else having gone better than a 2:02. She is already approaching NCAA B-final times early in the year.
• The Virginia women swept all three relays from the defending Champion Gators. The impressive times they put up bode well for their NCAA future.

• The Virginia men took 7 out of 11 individual events, and 2 out of 3 relays, in a fantastic performance. Beyond that, they DQ’ed their 400 free relay, which would have likely been a win. Florida was without Brett Fraser and Sebastien Rosseau, who are off competing in the Commonwealth Games, but Virginia still looked very good.
• Conor Dwyer, the defending NCAA Swimmer of the Year and 200 free Champion, got back to his winning ways with a 1:36.53 that is easily the best time in the nation this year.
• In the meet’s best race, Dwyer and Virginia’s Scot Robison dueled in the 100 free, with Dwyer getting the win 44.58-44.87. The two were in an almost dead heat at the midway point before Dwyer pulled away in a race between two of the heavy favorites for medals in this race at NCAA’s.
• Matt McLean dropped a highly impressive 4:25.92 in the 500 free, which is by 3 seconds the best time in the country this year. His teammate, Jon Daniec, also went a very fast 4:26.91. These two could push each other to very good times this season.
• In the winning 400 yard free relay, Florida got a 44.53 split from senior Logan Storie. His previous best mark–from a flat start– was 45.75 set last season at the Bulldog Invitational. If Storie continues to show impressive times like that, he could be a surprise difiference maker on the Florida relays.
• The feel-good story of the meet is the return of Brady Fox, who was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disk condition in his back and missed his freshman season after being one of Virginia’s top recruits, and a future Olympic hopeful. Fox swam his first meet back with the Cavaliers today, including a 53.31 in the 100 back. While nowhere near the times he was swimming before his time out of the water, it’s great to see him back and competing.

Full results are available at http://www.gatorzone.com/swimmingdiving/women/boxlist.php?boxfile=20101011130000 .