Alabama
LSU
Swimming and Diving Splits with LSU
10/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 23, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama men's swimming and diving team continued its winning ways in its second meet of the season, beating the LSU Tigers 161-139 while the Crimson Tide women fell to LSU 198-101 Saturday at the Don Gambril Olympic Pool on the UA campus.
"I thought we did a good job of getting up and racing," UA head coach Eric McIlquham said. "Overall we did the little things well - getting off the blocks, in and out of turns and finishing races off. We needed to be a little more aggressive with some of our swims, but overall we had a pretty nice meet."
The Tide men (2-0, 2-0 SEC) won nine of 16 events on the day while the UA women (0-2, 0-2 SEC) saw three rookies come away with their first collegiate victories. The meet was also the Crimson Tide's second annual Power of Pink meet, sponsored by Tuscaloosa Toyota, with the Alabama women wearing pink suits and the men wearing pink caps. The Alabama Athletics' Power of Pink initiative raises awareness in the fight against breast cancer.
For the second meet in a row, senior Catalin Cosma got the Tide's winning ways started by taking the top spot in the 1000 freestyle, posting a 9:20.38 to finish nine seconds ahead of the field. He also dominated in the 500 freestyle, finishing with a time of 4:32.02, five seconds ahead of the field.
"Once again, Catalin did a nice job with the 500 and 1000 freestyles and making sure we get those wins and those points," McIlquham said.
Alabama came away with a 1-2-3 sweep of the 200 freestyle, led by junior Joe Ziegler's winning 1:39.76. Ziegler also won the 200 backstroke, turning in a 1:49.76 to out-touch LSU's Simon Diefenthal by four-hundredths of a second. It marked the second meet in row that Ziegler has won both the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke.
Cosma and Ziegler also chipped in points in some secondary events to help the Tide's cause. Cosma took second in the 200 IM with a 1:54.62 while Ziegler took fourth in the 50 freestyle as part of a 2-3-4 Alabama finish, posting a 21.46.
"Joe continues to do a great job, going sub-1:40 to win the 200 freestyle, winning the 200 back, coming in and swimming the 50 freestyle, which is outside his realm, to give us a couple of points, and then anchoring our relay to a win," McIlquham said. "He just keeps rolling."
Senior Adam Booher swept the diving events, winning the 1-meter board by 30-point margin with 352.00 points and the 3-meter board by nearly 60 points with 389.40 points.
"Adam did a great job on the boards today," McIlquham said. "We got both his NCAA Zone cuts and just really performed at a high level."
The Tide also took a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the 200 butterfly with senior Denes Zubcsek leading the way with a time of 1:50.32. Freshman BJ Hornikel won his second 100 freestyle in as many meets, touching the wall at 45.53.
The Tide men finished the day with a strong showing in the 400 freestyle relay, with the "A" relay of freshman Vlad Caciuc, Hornikel, freshman Alex Coci and Ziegler powering home to the win with a 3:01.64.
On the women's side of the slate, freshman Callan Buck won the 3-meter diving event with 310.50 points, while classmate Lauren Piper won the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.01.
"Callan Buck, who came in as a pretty highly touted freshman, coming off the U.S. Junior National team, put herself in a position to get the win today off the 3-meter and that was nice for her," McIlquham said.
Freshman Marissa Dressel won the 500 freestyle, turning in a 5:03.12 to finish nearly three seconds ahead of the field.
"Marissa came through and won the 500, which is an event she hasn't swum a lot, but she stepped up to help us score some points, and came away with her first collegiate win," McIlquham said. "She still has a lot of learning to do, but she's doing a nice job for us."
The Tide returns to action Nov. 18-20 at the UT invitational in Knoxville, Tenn.
Players Mentioned
