Ranking the Classes: #2 - Florida

If classes were being selected on the basis of a sampling of their sixteen best recruit instead of four, six, and coaches voting, then the Gators would be #1 hands down.  Greg Troy and crew proved that they could recruit without Rich DeSelm. They signed sixteen swimmers for next fall and we're not talking filler, fodder or floaters.  Half of the class is in the top fifty.

Florida started with enough sprinters to jeopardize that Gregg Troy, grind it out reputation.  We're kidding of course, but sprint coach Pete Knox hasn't had this quantity of talent to work with.  Florida boasts eight sub-52.5 freestylers, led by Shara Stafford's 49.6.  Stafford has also been 55.0 in her 100 backstroke which would put her, oh, fourth on the depth chart if it wasn't for the fact that she's ranked #2 in the 200 back.  Melanie Costa-Schmid will lead a solid middle-distance/fly/back group that will include Kirsten Smith, Claire Dickman and Teresa Crippen.  Lindsay Rogers isn't the most versatile swimmer on the team, but she is one of three breaststrokers under 1:01 (two of whom hail from Indiana).  All of this talent is enough to make swimmers like Maida Turnadzic (fly), Anna-Liisa Pold (IM) and Danella Victoria (breast) look downright pedestrian.  It's all perspective though since each could be considered a top-100 recruit.  Handling such a big class can challenge even the best coaching staff (especially when you see their men's class next week).  Our advice is to start simple - write names on their swim caps.

A rival coach’s perspective: “: a few studs and great depth in their numbers. Greg and his staff do a good job of making tough athletes into fast swimmers. They should be the team to beat at SEC’s and should do very well at NCAA’s.”