Swimming and Diving Faces Florida at Home Saturday
1/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The Alabama swimming and diving teams take on the Florida Gators 1 p.m. Saturday at the Alabama Aquatic Center in the Crimson Tide's first home competition of the New Year.
The meet will be a tough test for Alabama as the Gators are ranked No. 2 nationally in the latest coaches' poll and the Lady Gators are ranked No. 3. Alabama's men are ranked 25th.
"This will be another challenge for our team," Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "One thing I like a lot about this team is no matter who we line up against, they always race hard, race to win. This is definitely the kind of challenge we want as we gear up for the conference championships."
The Crimson Tide is led by sophomore Vlad Polyakov, the nation's top 100 and 200 breaststroker and a finalist in both events at the Olympics this summer. Florida's men are led by junior Ryan Lochte, an Olympic silver medalist in the 200 IM. Lochte leads the conference in five different events. The Tide is stronger in the sprint events while the Gators tend toward a distance lineup.
On the women's side of the meet, Alabama senior Anne Poleska, the nation's top 200 breaststroker, will face off against Olympic teammate Vipa Bernhardt, ranked third in the conference in the 200 breaststroke. Both women competed for Germany this summer at the Athens Olympics. As a team, the Tide women are stronger in the sprints while the Lady Gators tend toward more toward middle distance and distance.
After the Gators, Alabama has one more regular season meet, South Carolina Sat., Jan. 29 at home, before the SEC Championships get started in early February.
