Alabama Swimmer Vlad Polyakov Wins NCAA Title
3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
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Already an Olympic finalist and World Championship Bronze Medalist, Alabama sophomore Vlad Polyakov added NCAA Champion to his resume Saturday night at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships being held on the University of Minnesota campus this weekend.
Polyakov won the 200 breaststroke with a school record 1:53.93, shaving more than a second off the previous mark, which he set at the SEC Championships last month. He finished a tenth of a second ahead of Northwestern’s Mike Alexandrov.
Capitalizing on Polyakov’s individual efforts, plus strong diving and solid relays, Alabama grabbed 14th place overall with 93 points It marks Alabama’s second top-15 finish in the past three years. Auburn came away with the team title, followed by Stanford, Arizona, Cal-Berkeley and Florida.
This past summer Polyakov finaled in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the Athens Olympiad. And this fall he won double bronze at the World Championships. And tonight he won Alabama’s 10th individual NCAA title.
His win comes close on the heels of a double victory at the SEC Championships. Ranked first in the 200 breaststroke for most of the season, Polyakov was seeded second to Stanford’s Gary Marshall coming into the championships. He was first though after preliminaries with what Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham called a “controlled swim”.
“Vlad had a good controlled race this morning in prelims and he just went after it tonight,” McIlquham said. “He was second at the 50 and 100 and tied for first at the 150 and he just brought it home. He dove hard for the wall and came away with the win.
“He earned it, he’s been working really hard all year and this is another notch in a great career which is just going to continue to get better.”
Polyakov was fourth in the 100 breaststroke on Friday.
Sophomore Hunor Mate’ also scored in the 200 breaststroke, taking 14th with a 1:58.12. He shaved more than a second off his career best. Junior Darren Erasmus also scored individual points tonight, taking 15th in finals with a 43.84. Erasmus swam a 43.21 in the morning, making him the second fastest 100 freestyler in Alabama history
“Both Hunor and Darren did a great job this morning, putting themselves in a position to score points tonight,” McIlquham said.
Divers Stewart Smith and Aaron Ashworth both scored off the platform. Smith, who also scored off the one-meter and three-meter board, was 14th off the platform with a score of 460.30 points. Ashworth, who scored off the one-meter, grabbed 16th with a 445.05.
“Stewart and Aaron did a great job all meet, giving us some really important points,” McIlquham said. “I’m happy that Stew was able to close out his collegiate career on such a positive note.”
Smith finished fourth off the one-meter board on the championship’s first day, the highest individual finish of his career.
