Florida Gators
Auburn
Swimming and Diving Fall to Auburn
Saturday, January 26, 2002 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The University of Florida swimming and diving teams found defeat at the hands of the top-five ranked Auburn Tigers at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Natatorium Friday in front of a packed house of 1,241 fans. The No. 8 Lady Gators lost to the No. 4 Tigers 130.50 to 110.50 while the No. 2 Auburn men decimated the No. 14 Gators 153 to 90.
The UF women have now lost six straight to Auburn falling to a 9-2 record for the season and losing their undefeated mark in the SEC (4-1). Sophomore Janelle Atkinson (Jamaica) swam a perfect night scoring wins in all three of the individual events she competed in. Atkinson won the 1000-yard freestyle (9:41.01), 200-yard freestyle (1:47.43) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:44.26).
In a spectacular performance, freshman diver Zach Wilcox (Yarrow Point, Wash.) pulled out a more than 36-point victory in the one-meter springboard competition. Leading the swimmers with two wins, sophomore Carlos Jayme (Goias, Brazil) took the 50- (20.19) and 100-yard (43.99) freestyle events scoring NCAA provisional qualifying times both times. The men now drop to 8-3 for the season, 3-2 in the SEC.
"I am very pleased with this team," head coach Gregg Troy said. "This was an incredible Auburn team that was real deep with great athletes. I felt we swam well, we are much better at this point in the season than we have ever been. The women are just outstanding and the men are stepping up. We are going to be really good by the SEC meet."
The Gators will now attempt to avenge their loss when they face Alabama in the second of a back-to-back home meet series at the O'Connell Center on Saturday at 2 p.m. The meet is free to the public and doors will open at 12:30 p.m.
