Gator Country

Both the Florida men's and women's swimming teams have swept the All-Florida Invitational the last two seasons. / Gator Country photo by Tim Casey

The University of Florida swimming and diving team will open the 2012-13 season at home as they host the third annual All-Florida Invitational beginning Friday, September 28 and running through Sunday, September 30 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The Gators will play host to seven different schools in Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Miami, North Florida, Nova Southeastern and Rollins College.

The three-day meet will kick off Friday, Sept. 28 with prelims at 10:00 a.m. and finals beginning at 7:00 p.m. Both Saturday and Sunday’s prelims are set for 9:00 a.m. and the finals will take place at 4:00 p.m. each day. Diving events will run Friday and Saturday between the prelims and finals, starting no earlier than 2:00 p.m.

This weekend will be the third annual All-Florida Invitational. Each year, schools from around Florida come to participate. It will be the third year that Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Miami and Nova Southeastern have participated. Florida Atlantic and North Florida are competing in their second invite and Rollins College will be coming for the first time.

The Gators have topped the standings in each of the previous two All-Florida Invites and will look to continue their streak of top finishes. Last year, the women finished with 15 individual victories and five relay wins to secure first place and the men accumulated nine individual and four relay victories to finish first out of the nine teams participating.

The men’s squad has opened the 10 of the past 11 seasons with wins, while the women have won their season-opening meets since the program’s inception in 1972.

Fans are encouraged to park in the North Lot adjacent to the O’Connell Center, and enter through Gate 2. The full meet schedule is below, along with promotional giveaways for each day.

Admission is free to the event. Each day the first 500 fans will receive a free poster and the first 250 will receive a schedule key tag. The night sessions fans will have the opportunity to win different prizes such as a Gator Locker room gift card, Florida vs. South Carolina football tickets and a kindle.

Courtesy UF Communications

More Other Sports | RSS