Alabama Moving up at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships
2/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
At the Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, being held on the Auburn campus this week, Alabama's women finished Friday in fourth place, up two places from yesterday, with 216 points while the men remain in fifth with 242 points.
Auburn stands at the top of both the men and women's ranks with 627.5 and 560.5 points respectively. In fact, the top three is identical on the men and women's side with the Tigers on top followed by Florida and Georgia respectively.
Junior Anne Poleska, the two-time defending SEC 100 breaststroke champion, was unable to defend her title, taking third tonight with a 1:00.74. Auburn senior Maggie Bowen won the race with a 1:00.05.
Freshman Candace Weiman took fourth in the 100 butterfly on the women's side of the slate, posting a 53.30, the second fastest time in school history. Weiman's classmate, Victoria Genova, also scored in the 100 fly, taking 12th place with a 55.10.
Junior Catalina Casaru finaled in the 400 IM, taking eighth place with a 4:23.76.
Freshman Kathryn Hallquist touched the wall at 56.69 in the 100 backstroke, taking 14th place. Sophomore Elenora Markou, who joined the Tide for the Spring semester, scored in the 200 freestyle, taking 16th with a 1:50.69.
Sophomore Stefan Gherghel and freshman Apostolis Tsagarakis both finaled in the 100 butterfly. Gherghel, the defending NCAA Champion the 200 butterfly, took fourth, swimming to a new school record at 47.04 while Tsagarakis was sixth with a 47.81, a time that ranks him second all-time at Alabama.
Gherghel also scored in the 100 backstroke, taking 13th with a 50.15 while junior Brendan Ashby was 14th with a 50.17
Freshman Vlad Polyakov, the league's top ranked 200 breaststroker, took seventh in the 100 breaststroke, swimming to a 54.48 finish. Senior Charles Reeves also scored in the 100 breast, posting a 54.88.
Off the three-meter board, freshman diver J.R. Hillis took eighth place with a score of 484.95 while sophomore Stewart Smith was ninth with a 471.75.
Junior James Willcox and sophomore Spiros Bitsakis both scored in the 200 freestyle with Willcox winning the consolation final and taking ninth overall with a 1:37.58 and Bitsakis scoring 11th place with a 1:37.75. In the 400 IM, sophomore Franck Southon scored with a 16th place, 3:56.38 finish.
The Tide has possibly its strongest day in the pool tomorrow, the championships last. Tomorrow's slate includes the men's 200 butterfly and the women's 200 breaststroke, where the defending champions, Gherghel and Poleska, both come from Alabama.
