Swimming and Diving Travels to Auburn for Friday Meet
11/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The Alabama Swimming and Diving teams quite a challenge in its fourth opponent of the season traveling down to the Plains to face Auburn in James E. Martin Aquatics Center Friday night at 5:30 p.m.
"There's no question that Auburn is now where we want to be," Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "But we're moving closer all the time. We're not going in there scared, we're going in there to compete. There are several events where we're going to be favored. It should be an interesting meet."
Auburn's men (6-0 overall, 2-0 SEC) are currently ranked No. 1 in the coaches' poll while the women (5-0, 2-0 SEC) are No. 2. Alabama's men (2-1, 0-1 SEC), 14th last year at the NCAA Championships, are currently 21st in the rankings while the women (2-1, 0-1 SEC), 21st at last year's NCAA Championships, are 27th in the rankings.
Alabama is led by juniors Vlad Polyakov and Hunor Mate', two of the nation's top breaststrokers and certainly the best tandem in the nation. Also making waves is freshman distance ace Mark Randall, already one of the top distances swimmers in Alabama's storied history, ranking among the nation's top-5 in the 1000 freestyle.
The Tide women are led by junior butterflyer Victoria Genova, senior backstroker Kathryn Hallquist and senior diver Crystal Rasmussen. All three women are All-Americans.
