Swimming and Diving Opens SEC Competition at Georgia Friday
10/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
"It will be a good opportunity for us to see what we are made of and step up on the blocks and swim tough," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said.
Both the Crimson Tide men's and women's teams look to build on their opening meet success after picking up comfortable wins over Delta State in the first dual meet in the nation this season.
Georgia will provide stiff competition in the Tide's first road meet of the season. The Bulldog women are coming off both an NCAA and SEC championships last season while the Georgia men finished third last season at the SEC championships, one spot ahead of Alabama. Both the Tide and Bulldog men finished in the top-12 nationally in 2014.
On the men's side of the meet, the Tide will look to sophomore All-American and defending NCAA 50 freestyle champion Kristian Gkolomeev to pave the way in the sprint events. He will be challenged by junior Michael Trice and sophomore Chris Powell of Georgia, both of which scored at the SEC championships a year ago.
For the women, senior All-American Kaylin Burchell, who recently earned a berth on the USA National Team. Burchell is the first active Crimson Tide swimmer since the 1990s to earn a place on Team USA.
"It's great for Kaylin," Pursley said. "It's been a career long goal for her, and so we are really pleased for her."
Burchell and sophomore Bridget Blood, both of which finaled at last year's SEC Championships, will face off again a host of Bulldog women in the breaststroke events, including junior Annie Zhu, senior Shannon O'Malley, and sophomore Emily Cameron, all of which finaled at the SEC Championships.
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Players Mentioned
