Alabama Divers Start SEC Championships on Friday
2/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The Southeastern Conference swimming and diving championships get underway Friday, and for the first time since 1995, diving will take place well before the swimming portion of the meet gets started next Wednesday.
Diving runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday and the swimming of the portion runs Wednesday through Saturday in Gainesville, Fla. at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Natatorium.
"It makes it a little different for us," Alabama diving coach Pat Greenwell said. "It mainly affects us in finals when the support you get from the rest of the team kicks in. But we'll be ok."
The women start the meet off with the preliminaries of the three-meter springboard at 11 a.m. CST while the men start the meet off with the one-meter. On Saturday, the women and men switch off and on Sunday, both men and women will compete off the platform.
Alabama sent three women and four men to the league championships, including All-Americans Crystal Rasmussen, Aaron Ashworth and Stewart Smith. Rasmussen was slowed through the fall with a small fracture in her left foot. Greenwell hopes that she has enough experience to make up for a fall spent mostly on a stationary bike.
Rasmussen along with sophomores Jenna Hastreiter and Karissa Tuthill all scored at the conference meet last season. Rasmussen finaled off the one-meter while Hastreiter finaled off the platform. Tuthill scored off the platform.
"I feel confident that all three ladies will score some points for us again this year," Greenwell said. "Jenna in particular had a good regular season and should be ready for this weekend. We just have to step up to the level of the competition and give it our best shot."
On the men's side of the slate, Ashworth and Smith along with sophomore Alan Harris all scored at last year's conference meet. Ashworth and Smith have been training well and have the ability to final in all three events. Harris has stepped up this season and is a threat to score off both the one and three-meter boards.
"If we can get both Aaron and Stewart in the finals, I'll be really pleased," Greenwell said. "Stewart's looking great and for him, it will just be a matter of holding it together on a few specific dives."
For the Tide's fourth diver, freshman Chad Fritchl, the championships will be a new experience.
"Chad's still pretty green," Greenwell said. "So this meet will be a good growing experience for him, he should learn a lot just going through the process of competing at this level."
