Polyakov Sets Pool Record Against Kentucky
11/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The Alabama swimming and diving teams came away with 11 wins against Kentucky in Lexington today, but came up short against the Wildcats.
"We had some good races, but in the end we just came up short," Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "Arlene (Semeco) had two strong swims again today and Vlad (Polyakov) broke another pool record in the 200 breaststroke."
Alabama's women fell 132-109 to go to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference. The men lost 137-97, going to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the SEC.
Senior Arlene Semeco won the 50 and 100 freestyles, making NCAA provisional standards in the process. Semeco went 23.33 in the 50 and 50.43 in the 100. Alabama made it a clean sweep of the short freestyle events when junior Anna Grant took top honors in the 200 freestyle with a 1:53.93. The Tide went one-two in the 200 freestyle when Melina Bassino finished just behind Grant with a 1:53.93.
Rookie Erin Sparks notched the first win of her Crimson Tide career, taking the 200 IM with a time of 2:06.53. Sophomore Victoria Genova won the 200 butterfly with a 2:04.52. Alabama finished out the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay. Sophomore Tara Theilemann, Bassino, Grant and junior Kathryn Hallquist combined to finish at 3:32.74.
On the men's side, sophomore Vlad Polyakov won the 200 breaststroke with an NCAA automatic standard of 1:57.35, setting the Lancaster Aquatic Center pool record in the process. The Tide went one-two in the 200 breaststroke when sophomore Hunor Mate' took second with a 2:02.04. Senior Stewart Smith and Aaron Ashworth took first and second off the three-meter board with 302.78 and 301.28 points respectively. Senior Franck Southon won the 200 backstroke with a 1:51.71.
The 400 medley relay of Southon, Polyakov, junior J.T. Jones and sophomore Apostolis Tsagkarakis took second with a 2:18.90, finishing just off an NCAA "B" cut. The 400 freestyle relay of junior Darren Erasmus, Chris Flamion and Waleed Al-Qahani along with freshman Will Burke combined to win the 400 freestyle relay with a 3:12.17.
After competing on the road the first three outings of the season, Alabama makes its home debut next Friday (Nov. 19) against the Auburn Tigers starting at 5 p.m. at the Alabama Aquatic Center.
