Rookies Power Alabama at NCAA Championships
5/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Cross Country
The future certainly looks bright for Alabama. All three of the men who have qualified for this week's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships are from the freshman class.
And with rookie Stefan Gherghel spending much of the season ranked among the nation's top-2 in both the 100 and 200 butterfly, the present doesn't look too bad either.
Gherghel along with middle distance ace Franck Southon and diver Stewart Smith, will travel to Athens, Ga. this week to take place in the three-day competition in the Gabrielson Natatorium on the University of Georgia campus.
Ghergehl, who will compete in the 100 butterfly on Friday and the 200 butterfly on Saturday, holds the school record in the 100 butterfly and is second all-time for the Crimson Tide in the 200 fly. Only Jon Sieben, the 1984 Gold Medalist in the event, leads Gherghel in the 200.
Southon will compete in the 500 freestyle, 400 IM and 200 backstroke. Southon is ranked second all-time for the Crimson Tide in the 200 backstroke and the 400 IM. He will compete in the 500 freestyle on Thursday, the 400 IM on Friday and the 200 backstroke on Saturday.
Stewart earned his berth to the NCAA Championships by winning the one-meter board at the NCAA Zone B Championships. He will start off on the one-meter board on Thursday and then compete on the three-meter board on Friday and the platform on Saturday.
