The No. 5 Auburn Men's and No. 8 Women's Swimming and Diving teams will face Gregg Troy's University of Florida Gators for a dual meet at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Friday at 4 p.m.
Florida's men are ranked No. 6 and the women No. 7.
Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said the team is approaching the meet with its eyes firmly set on the Southeastern Conference Championship.
This is Auburn's last conference dual meet before the SEC Championship.
"I think we're a very well-prepared team leading into SEC's due to the intense competition we've had in the past few months," Hawke said.
The Tigers' last meet was at Texas A&M University Jan. 9.
The women fell to the Aggies 169-129, but defeated SMU 204-87. The men won 159-126.
Hawke said the team came back from the meet at Texas A&M determined, focused and ready to begin preparation for Florida.
The Auburn men defeated the Gators at the 2009 SEC Championship 881-626
"Their coach is under a lot of pressure to beat us," Hawke said.
In the past five years, Auburn and Florida have both placed in the top five in the SEC Championship.
The Auburn men were 2009 NCAA Champions, and the Florida men were No. 5. The Auburn women were No. 6, and the Florida women were No. 7.
The Auburn men have defeated Florida in dual meets every year since 1999.
The Gators are Auburn's biggest SEC rival, said senior and men's captain Tyler McGill.
"There's always a little more incentive to beat Florida," McGill said. "Florida's a very talented team."
The Florida men are undefeated in dual meets this season, while the women are 8-2.
"I think our biggest challenge will be handing their depth in certain events," McGill said.
McGill said practices are beginning to change to prepare the team for the end of the year, specifically the SEC Championship meet Feb. 17-20.
Quality of practice time rather than quantity is now the team's training strategy, McGill said.
"It will be a challenge for us to make sure that we win the events we're supposed to," McGill said. "If we do that, I think the outcome will be in our favor."
This is an especially important win for the women's team, said Ava Ohlgren, women's captain and senior.
Auburn fell to the Florida women's team in the SEC Championship by 14 points last year in Auburn.
Ohlgren said the women's team would not accept another loss to Florida.
"They beat us by 14 points, so we really want to come back and show them we won't tolerate that on our turf," Ohlgren said.
Ohlgren said she and the team are focusing on details at this point in the season.
"If we stay focused, we'll have one of our best meets," Ohlgren said. "Energy is definitely the key."
It is imperative for the team to stay in race mode, Ohlgren said.
"We've gotten better and better each meet, and we want to do better than we did in Texas," Ohlgren said.
This is Auburn's last conference dual meet before the SEC Championship.
As always, the championship-winning team has worked hard all season, especially now.
"I'm proud of the way our men have moved along this year," McGill said.
The coach and captains said they feel they are ready to take on the Gators.
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