Swimming and Diving Gets Season Underway Saturday
10/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 2, 2009
ATLANTA, Ga. - The Alabama Swimming and Diving teams open their season Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET with a five-way meet in Atlanta, Ga. at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. The Crimson Tide will face host-school Georgia Tech as well as Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast and Georgia Southern.
"It's always exciting to get the season underway," Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "We all want to get a starting point for the year; see what our freshmen bring to the table and see where our veterans are going to pick up after last season. "
The Tide has been in the water practicing since early September and has been piling on the work throughout the last month.
"We've been going at it hard and building things up," McIlquham said. "I'm sure our folks are ready to get up and compete."
Alabama has a veteran laden team this season with 12 senior women and eight senior men leading the way. The Tide women are led by its returning All-Americans, senior Agustina de Giovanni and sophomore Carrie Dragland as well as SEC platform diving champion Elizabeth Hughes. The women also return five school record holders, de Giovanni (400 IM), senior Hannah Brinks (100 butterfly), junior Kate Shannon Gray (200 IM), junior Ida Persson (100 freestyle) and Suzanne Schwee (200 butterfly).
Alabama's men are led by the All-American trio of seniors Mark Randall and Aaron Fleshner and junior Catalin Cosma. The men also return NCAA Championship participants junior Denes Zubcsek who is ranked second all-time for the Tide in the 100 and 200 butterfly and sophomore Joe Ziegler, who set the school mark in the 200 backstroke last season. Junior Adam Booher is also back, joining Fleshner to give Alabama one of the best diving tandems in the nation this season.
Adding to the Tide's line up are 10 freshmen, including two on the women's side and eight for the men.
"What makes our freshman class so good is that it's quality," McIlquham said. "Walking in the door, these are athletes who should make an immediate impact for our program. We're looking forward to seeing what they can do on Saturday."
Players Mentioned
