Swimming Earns Third U.S. Open Title
12/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The Alabama swimming and diving team racked up another win at the U.S. Open being held in Auburn, Ala. this week.
The 400m medley relay of freshman Chris Perry, junior Vlad Polyakov, senior Spiros Bitsakis and junior Apostolis Tsagkarakis posted a 3:49.26 to beat a team representing the Scottish national team by nearly a second.
"It was a great way to finish off the second night of the Open," head coach Eric McIlquham said. "This is a world class field and we're competing very well. We're looking forward to finishing off strong tomorrow."
In addition to the relay, the Tide got a strong performance from Bitsakis in the 100m butterfly. The sprinter took second in the consolation final and the 10th overall with a 56.08. He was 16th coming out of prelims.
"Things are going really well, especially since considering we've pretty much trained right through this meet," McIlquham said. "Swimming fast right now is going to hold us in good stead come championship season."
The Tide had already come away with two wins the meet's first day when Polyakov won the 100m breaststroke and freshman Mark Randall won the 400m freestyle. Polyakov and Randall compete in the 200m breaststroke and the 1500m freestyle respectively.
