Slinky Jones
The 2018-19 season is now underway for Florida Southern’s swim teams as they begin their first year under new head coach Andy Robins.
Robins was named head coach of the Florida Southern men’s and women’s swimming programs in August of 2018. He comes to Florida Southern with 23 years of college coaching experience including tenures at Florida State University and Georgia Tech.
Robins spent the last three seasons as assistant coach at Georgia Tech where he coached sprinters. Before that, he spent more than 20 years of being an associate head coach.
The teams opened up with back-to-back dual meets at Rollins College and at Saint Leo University. The men are 2-1, only losing to St. Leo to start the year and the women are 1-2, with loses to St. Leo and University of Tampa. Before this year season started, the men’s squad was coming off its seventh consecutive top-five finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships, the women’s team placed 18th at last year’s national championship meet and has six top-15 finishes in the last eight years.
Both teams will also carry national top-20 rankings into the season, with the men ranked No. 7 in the CSCAA Division II preseason poll, and the women ranked No. 17. The men and women are both looking forward to great seasons after last year’s run.
Mallary Meyer, a junior from Greencastle, Indiana is expecting her team to win conference and for all the swimmers to perform well.
“I obviously want the Lady Mocs to do our best at winning conference and for our girls to all feel good about their swims and grow as swimmers,” Meyer said.
The Sunshine State Conference has five men teams ranked nationally, but the Moccasin men are the highest ranked team in the Sunshine State Conference. Nova Southeastern University (No. 12), Saint Leo (No. 14), Florida Tech (No. 16), and Tampa (No. 18) are all in the top-20.
On the women’s side, the Sunshine State Conference has only three schools including the Mocs. The women’s national poll has Nova Southeastern at No. 3, and Tampa at No. 5. Queens of Charlotte tops both polls after winning both national championships for the fourth year in a row.
The Moccasins with travel to Tallahassee on Nov. 3 to face off against Florida State University before traveling to the Panther Invitational in Melbourne, Fla. Another good season to look forward to for both Moccasin teams.
Athletic Director Pete Meyer believes that the team will build off past success with the addition of their new head coach. Meyer added that he has faith that Robins is the right man to lead both teams in the right direction.
As is the case with many FSC athletic programs, the swimmers are optimistic that a National Championship is in their near future. Although neither program is favored to win this season, both teams are hopeful about their futures.
