Alabama
SEC Championships
Alabama Swimming and Diving Opens SEC Championships with School Record, Runner-Up Relay
2/14/2017 7:41:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Alabama opened day one of the 2017 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships being held in Knoxville, Tenn., this week, with a school record on the women's side and a runner-up relay finish on the men's side.
Alabama opened day one of the 2017 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships being held in Knoxville, Tenn., this week, with a school record on the women's side and a runner-up relay finish on the men's side.Alabama's men are seventh after day one with 119 points while the women are ninth after tallying 87 points.
The women's 200 medley relay of seniors Caroline Korst and Bridget Blood, along with juniors Hannah Musser and Bailey Scott combined for a school-record 1:37.02, garnering sixth place and an automatic NCAA standard.
"That was a really good start for our women - posting a school record and an NCAA automatic cut," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. "Three out of the four women had lifetime-best splits on that relay."
Seniors Connor Oslin and Pavel Romanov combined with junior Luke Kaliszak and freshman Zane Waddell to take second place in the men's 200 medley relay with a 1:23.52, just .08 behind Florida and up one place from last year's championships.
"We got a little bit of a taste of what we did to Cal last year at the NCAA Championships, getting touched out on the last stroke for the relay like that," Pursley said. "I can tell you it is a lot more fun on the other end. Zane had a great anchor leg, probably our best leg of the race, but he swam against a guy who is one of just two in the history of NCAA swimming under 18 seconds."
The men's 800 freestyle relay took fifth when junior Christopher Reid, senior Alex Gray, junior Matthew Adams and sophomore Robert Howard turned in a 6:22.41.
The women's 800 freestyle relay of juniors Mia Nonnenberg and Temarie Tomley along with freshmen Cameron Brown and Line Bruun touched the wall with a 7:211.24 to take 11th place.
"We probably could have and should have been faster on the 800 relays, but hopefully that puts a fire in belly coming back tomorrow," Pursley said. "It's the first round of a nine-round fight, so we've got a lot left."
Senior Brent Sagert scored off the 3-meter springboard, taking 14th place with 310.85 points. On the women's side of the slate, senior Kara Fredlock scored 19th place (282.05) while sophomore Ayanna Woods finished 24th (273.20) off the 3-meter springboard.
Alabama returns to action Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. ET with the prelims of the men's and women's 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle and women's 1-meter spring board.
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Players Mentioned
