Swimming and Diving Starts SEC Championship Competition Wednesday
2/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 16, 2010
ATHENS, Ga. - For the Alabama swimming and diving teams, the postseason starts this week in Athens, Ga., with the Southeastern Conference Championships held in the Gabrielsen Natatorium.
"This is what we've been pointing toward since the first day of practice," Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "Everything we've done so far has been focused on being our very best at this point. We've trained hard, we've raced hard and now it's time to get out there and lay it all on the line."
Alabama's men finished fifth at last year's SEC Championship while the women finished sixth.
The Crimson Tide men come into this year's championships after going 7-2 during the regular season, led by seniors Mark Randall, Aaron Fleshner and Riley Boulden.
Randall is the league's top seeded distance swimmer and is ranked second nationally in both the 500 and 1650 freestyles. He also holds the school record in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyles.
Fleshner, the defending SEC one-meter champion, comes into the meet as the SEC's best off the three-meter and is ranked second off the one-meter and platform. During the regular season, Fleshner was named SEC Diver of the Week four times. Boulden comes into the championships ranked second in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes.
"It's been great year so far," McIlquham said. "A lot of the swimmers have posted career-best times already this season and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can do this week. As for our divers, they have been leading the way in a very tough conference all year and we expect that to carry over."
On the women's side of the slate, Alabama comes into the SEC Championships with a 9-3 regular season mark. Senior Agustina de Giovanni and sophomore Carrie Dragland lead the way for the Tide. De Giovanni is ranked second in the SEC in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes as well as standing fifth in the 200 IM. She was named SEC Swimmer of the Week three times this season.
Dragland, the league's defending SEC three-meter champion, is the league's top-ranked platform diver coming out of the regular season. A four-time SEC Diver of the Week, Dragland is ranked third in the SEC off the one-meter board. Alabama also returns senior Elizabeth Hughes, the defending SEC platform champion.
Alabama and the rest of the league gets things started Wednesday at 9 a.m. CT with the prelims of the women's one-meter diving and the men's three-meter diving. Wednesday evening the swimmers join the fray, with the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay. The Tide men's 800 freestyle relay of sophomore Denes Zubcsek, Randall, junior Catalin Cosma and sophomore Joe Ziegler comes into the championships as the No. 1 seed.
The championships, which run Wednesday through Saturday, start in full-force on Thursday with prelims beginning at 9 a.m. CT and finals getting underway at 4:30 p.m. CT.
Players Mentioned
