Junior Polyakov Takes Second at NCAA Championships
3/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
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| Vlad Polyakov |
Alabama junior Vlad Polyakov came within 9/100ths of a second of defending his 200 breaststroke title here at the 2006 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, taking second behind Cal-Berkeley’s Henrique Barbosa.
Polyakov posted a 1:54.08 to Barbosa’s 1:53.97. Last year’s champion, Polyakov was second as a freshman, giving him three top-2 NCAA 200 breaststroke finishes so far in his career.
“We had a good meet,” Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. “Vlad had a great meet overall and just got out touched in the 200 tonight. Mark (Randall) was fifth in the mile as a freshman and Aaron (Ashworth) scored on all three boards this weekend. We’re moving ahead and getting better as we go along.”
As a team, Alabama scored 114.5 points and finished 13th nationally, one place up from last season, despite its 400 freestyle relay being disqualified on the meet’s final day. Auburn won with a 480.5, followed by Arizona and Stanford. From the SEC only Auburn, No. 5 Florida and No. 9 Georgia finished ahead of the Tide.
For Alabama, freshman distance ace Mark Randall finished fifth in the mile with a 14:48.25, bettering the school record he set at the SEC Championships by more than five seconds. He earned All-American honors in the mile after earning honorable mention All-American honors in the 500 freestyle on the championships first day.
Junior Aaron Ashworth in his third individual event of the meet, took ninth place off the platform diving event with a score of 291.60. In addition to the platform, Ashworth also took 13th off both the one and three-meter boards earlier in the championships, giving him three honorable mention All-American honors for the meet.
