The University of Florida Swimming & Diving Teams kicked off rivalry week with a pair of victories over Florida State on Tuesday at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The Gators returned to Gainesville on Monday afternoon following a five-day road trip to the Purdue Invitational, but both teams fought off fatigue in a 126-115 win for the men's team (5-2, 2-0 SEC) and a 126-115 victory for the women's team (5-1, 1-1 SEC).

"I was really proud of them today," Head Coach Gregg Troy said. "After traveling all day Monday and then having to swim against our arch-rival, who was loaded and prepared, that was something to be proud of. The rivalry brought out the best in us tonight. In our sports it's rare to be fully prepared this time of the year. I think it was obvious that Florida State came in ready and our kids responded."

In the men's competition, the team of Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.), Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Nick Borreca (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Darian Townsend (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) opened the meet by recording a season-best time of 1:29.70 to place first in the 200 MR. The Gators went on to win seven of the 11 swimming events for the evening and posted four NCAA provisional times in the process.

Sophomore Tobias Work (Falmouth, Mass.) swam a career-best time of 9:05.77 to win the 1,000 free. He won his second distance event with a season-best time of 4:24.90 in the 500 free. Townsend also notched a season-best time for Florida in the 200 free with a time of 1:36.93.

Florida State claimed its first win when junior Alex Kennon (Winter Haven, Fla.) won the 50 free in a time of 20.54. Sophomore Jarryd Botha (Worchester, South Africa) took second place for the Seminoles with a time of 20.85. Ally put Florida back on the winning track by taking the 200 IM in a personal-best time of 1:48.14, which was also under the NCAA B provisional time.

Lochte claimed his third automatic qualifying time for the NCAA championships by winning the 200 fly in a time of 1:44.13. He went on to claim his second victory of the meet in the 200 back with a time of 1:44.73.

In the women's competition, Florida State jumped out to the early lead with a win in the 200 MR. The team of Christie Raleigh, Lauren Brick, Lauren Sprag and Carrie Ellis recorded a time of 1:40.88 for the victory.

Sophomore Natalie Pike (Boca Raton, Fla.) recorded a season-best time of 1:47.89 in the 200 free to put the Gators back in the win column and earned the first of five NCAA provisional B times for the women. Sophomore Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) and Ashley Carusone (Gainesville, Fla.) completed the Gator sweep in the event by taking second and third place.

Sophomore Kim Larson (Longwood, Fla.) added to the lead by winning the 1,000 free in a time of 10:00.47. Senior Vipa Bernhardt (Orlando, Fla.) kept the Gators on winning track with a season-best time of 2:03.15 in the 200 IM. Junior Candace Weiman (Castro Valley, Calf.) then led a Florida sweep in the 200 fly by swimming a season-best time of 1:58.80 in the 200 fly. Carusone and freshman Jenny Largo (Wellington, Fla.) followed with times of 2:02.21 and 2:02.93 respectively.

Tallahassee native Amanda Hartley capped off the Gator's 35th consecutive win over Florida State by taking the 200 breast in a season-best time of 2:17.02, which was also an NCAA B time. Burckle also earned an NCAA B time in the 500 free with a time of 4:50.20 to place first in the event.

In the diving portion of the competition, Jonathan Wilcox (Yarrow Point, Wash.) swept both the one-meter and three-meter events for the Gators. Wilcox scored a career-high 339.75 in the one-meter event and 362.78 in the three-meter dive. Florida's Alicia Miller (Hobie Sound, Fla.) scored 257.40 points to take the women's one-meter dive. Florida State's Brittany Lerew (Orlando, Fla.) won the three-meter event with a score of 273.68.

The Gators will begin preparing for the U.S. Open which will take place Dec. 1-3 at Auburn, Ala. Florida's next dual meet will be versus Penn State on Jan. 7, 2006.