Alabama
Auburn
Alabama Swimming and Diving Falls to Auburn in Home Opener
10/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama swimming and diving teams posted strong showings Friday afternoon in their home and Southeastern Conference opener, tallying wins in three of the four relays and earning eight individual wins on the day against Auburn before coming up short in final tallies.
"It was a lot of fun today," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. "We've got our brand new scoreboard and then there's the excitement that comes any time Alabama competes against Auburn."
The Crimson Tide men lost a close battle 158-142 while the Tide women fell 192-108. Alabama's men and women both go to 1-1-0 overall and 0-1-0 in SEC competition.
"I thought we fought hard and won most of the close races," Pursley said. "While the final score didn't come out like we hoped, we gave them a good run and I feel like we're in a good place to get after them against at the championship meets at the end of the season."
The Crimson Tide started the meet off by winning in the men's 200 medley relay in decisive fashion. Juniors Connor Oslin, Pavel Romanov, and Kristian Gkolomeev combined with senior Brett Walsh to beat Auburn by more than two seconds, touching the wall with a 1:24.84. From there, the Tide men and women combined to win eight individual races with eight different swimmers earning victories.
Senior Emma Saunders picked up the Tide's first individual win at home this season, placing first in the 200 freestyle with a 1:48.61. The Tide finished first and second in the men's 100 backstroke with sophomore Luke Kaliszak going 47.48 and Oslin going 47.90.
Junior Bridget Blood swam a 1:01.33 to win the women's 100 breaststroke while junior Anton McKee won the men's 200 breaststroke after stopping the clock at 1:57.52. Freshman Christian Arseneau took home his first win of his Alabama career after clocking a 4:28.57 in the men's 500 freestyle. Junior Brent Sagert won the men's 3-meter with a score of 356.32.
Gkolomeev led a one-two-three sweep of the men's 50 freestyle with a 19.87, followed by Walsh, 20.31, and freshman Robert Howard, 20.41.
Sophomore Mia Nonnenberg picked up the Tide's final individual victory of the day, winning the women's 400 individual medley with a 4:11.87.
The Tide closed the meet with a sweeping of the 200 freestyle relays. Junior Bailey Scott and sophomore Temarie Tomley combined with seniors Justine Panian and Emma Saunders to win the women's relay with a time of 1:36.86 while Howard and junior Alex Gray joined senior Brett Walsh and Gkolomeev to clinch a down-to-the-wire men's race with a time of 1:19.54.
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