Alabama Swimmers Win U.S. Open Titles
12/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The Alabama Swimming and Diving team has gotten off to a scorching start at the U.S. Open on the Auburn campus. Freshman Mark Randall and junior Vlad Polyakov came away from day one with U.S. Open titles.
"We got off to a good start today," head coach Eric McIlquham said. "We swam well up and down the board and of course got great wins from Mark and Vlad."
Randall, a three-time South African champion in the 400m freestyle, came from behind over the last 150 meters against American record holder and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Klete Keller, to win the 400m freestyle with a time of 3:52.14 to Keller's 3:52.72. The duo was more than two seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
"It felt pretty controlled the first half of the race," Randall said. "The second half of the race, I rolled into it and really brought it back in the end. Since I arrived at Alabama in August, I feel that my swimming has really gone to another level."
"To compete against an Olympic bronze medalist, that's awesome in itself," Randall said. "To come away with a win is just a bonus."
Polyakov, who won the 100 and 200m breaststrokes at the 2004 U.S. Open, edged U.S. Olympian Scott Usher in the 100m breaststroke, winning 1:01.98 to 1:02.30.
"It felt pretty good in the beginning, but at about the 50, I realized I was out a little bit too fast," Polyakov said. "By the end I could feel Scott (Usher) catching up to me, but in the end everything turned out fine."
Again it came down to just two men, as Polyakov and Usher finished two seconds ahead of everyone else. Polyakov, the 2005 NCAA 200 breaststroke champion, will swim that event on Saturday.
"It's pretty tough," Polyakov said. "Scott already graduated and he won't be in NCAAs, but he's a really tough opponent. Some young guys are doing really well and swimming fast. It'll be a tough race in the 200 for me on Saturday against Scott Usher."
