Swimming and Diving Clipped by Wildcats
1/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The Alabama Swimming and Diving teams battled Kentucky down to the end in their first dual meets of 2007, coming up just short in Lexington, Ky.
Alabama’s men fell 152-142 while the women finished 158-125. The Crimson Tide finishes out the regular season Saturday, Jan. 20 in Tuscaloosa against Florida and South Carolina at 2 p.m.
Alabama’s men got out of the gate fast, when sophomore Chris Perry, senior Vlad Polyakov, freshman Alin Mihalca and senior Apostolis Tsagkarakis combined to win the 200 medley relay with a 1:29.71 anchored by Tsagkarakis’ 19.33.
Tsagkarakis also won the 50 freestyle with a 20.35, a half second ahead of the field, and the 100 freestyle with a 45.35, also by a half second margin.
Sophomore distance ace Mark Randall won both the 500 and 1650 freestyles by healthy margins. He touched the wall at 4:34.20 in the 500 and 15:44.72 in the 1650.
Polyakov and fellow senior Hunor Mate’ came back to take first and second in the 200 breaststroke after being disqualified in the 100 breaststroke. Polayakov, the nation’s top breaststroker, posted a 1:58.26 while Mate touched at 2:02.44. Polyakov also won the 200 IM, finishing with a 1:53.62.
Freshman Aaron Fleshner won both the one and three-meter diving events with 310.88 and 353.03 points respectively. His win off the one-meter came by more than xx points while he blitzed the field off the three-meter by 55 points.
On the women’s side freshman Agustina de Giovanni came away with a trio of individual wins and anchored the winning 400 freestyle relay. She won the 200 freestyle with a 1:50.34 and the 500 freestyle with a 4:58.57 and took the 200 IM with a 2:04.70.
Senior Victoria Genova won the 200 butterfly by more than a second and a half while junior Erin Sparks won the 200 breaststroke by 16/100ths of a second, posting a 2:21.15.
The women finished off the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay when senior Melina Bassino, junior Stephanie Johnson, freshman Brooke Baldi and de Giovanni finished with a 3:29.41.
