Swimming and Diving On the Road Again; Facing Kentucky Saturday
11/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The Alabama Swimming and Diving teams hit the road again this weekend, facing the Kentucky Wildcats Saturday (Nov. 13) at 10 a.m. in Lexington.
The Wildcats will be the Crimson Tide men's fourth and the women's fifth opponent in three weeks. Both Kentucky squads are much improved from years past and will pose the Tide's sternest test of the young season.
"Kentucky has become a very tough squad over the last few years,"Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "I expect this to be a very good meet, one that will come down to the wire in a lot of races."
The Tide women are 4-0-0 overall and 2-0-0 in Southeastern Conference competition while the men are 3-0-0 overall and 1-0-0 in the SEC.
The Tide women will be looking for big races from senior Olympic bronze medalist Anne Poleska in the breaststroke and IM events and senior Arlene Semeco, junior Anna Grant and freshman Kim Singer in the freestyles. Junior Kathryn Hallquist will lead the Tide in the backstrokes while redshirt sophomore Victoria Genova will be the Tide's top choice in the butterfly. Sophomore Karissa Tuthill has been the Tide's top diver to this point in the season.
Poleska has already punched her ticket for the NCAA Championships in the 200 breaststroke, bettering the "A" standard against LSU. She also posted a "B" provisional standard in the 100 breaststroke. Semeco has posted NCAA "B" standards in both the 50 and 100 freestyles.
On the men's side of the slate, double World Championships bronze medalist Vlad Polyakov has already turned in some stellar performances this season, posting an NCAA "A" automatic standard in the 200 breaststroke and a "B" provisional mark in the 100 breaststroke.
Juniors Darren Erasmus and J.T. Jones along with sophomore Apostolis Tsagkarakis and rookie Ryan Latone will lead the freestyle charge. Senior Franck Southon is the Tide's top backstroke threat while Tsagkarakis and junior Chris Flamion are tops in the butterfly events. Junior Aaron Ashworth and Stewart Smith will lead the Tide in the diving events.
