Alabama
Men's NCAA Championships
Alabama Swimming and Diving on Day Three of the Men’s NCAA Championships
3/24/2017 8:34:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
INDIANAPOLIS – Alabama swimming and diving came into Friday's final of the 200 medley relay at the men's NCAA championships as the seventh seed, swimming out of lane one. The Crimson Tide quartet finished quite a bit better than that.
Led by a blistering 20.39 in the opening leg by senior Connor Oslin, and career-best swims by senior Pavel Romanov, junior Luke Kaliszak and freshman Zane Waddell, the Crimson Tide raced to a second-place finish with a school-record 1:21.89, going under the previous NCAA record. Texas out touched Alabama with a 1:21.54, to take the title.
"All four guys went life-time best time and they just nailed it – starts, turns – they put it all together under the NCAA record," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. "It wasn't quite good enough for the win, but to take second place from an outside lane, we'll take it and be excited about it."
Alabama won the NCAA 200 medley relay a year ago, finishing one-hundredth of a second off the NCAA record. With Kristian Gkolomeev, who anchored the national champions with one of the fastest relay legs in history, finishing his eligibility after last season, few gave Alabama chance of going that fast this season. Instead, Alabama shaved nearly half a second off its NCAA championship time and previous school mark.
"It was a great night for us," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. "I'm real proud of these guys for the way they responded to the 400 medley relay being disqualified yesterday by coming back with a great day."
In addition to an outstanding showing the 200 medley relay, Alabama was the only school with two A finalists in the 100 backstroke. Oslin and Kaliszak made the most of that fact, taking third and fourth, respectively.
Oslin bettered his own school record in the event for the second time in an eight-hour span, going 44.56, which makes him fifth all-time in the 100 backstroke, just ahead of Olympian and former Florida Gator Ryan Lochte. Kaliszak clocked a career-best 44.91, becoming just the second Tide swimmer under 45 seconds in the 100 backstroke and second all-time for the Tide.
"I don't think there's ever been a school with two guys under 45 seconds in the 100 backstroke at the same time," Pursley said. "To have Connor and Luke go third and fourth behind an Olympic gold medalist was amazing."
It was Oslin's third consecutive top-five finish in the 100 backstroke, following a fifth-place finish in 2015 and a runner-up swim in 2016. Kaliszak scored in the 100 backstroke at last year's NCAA championships, taking 13th place.
Senior Anton McKee scored in the 100 breaststroke for the second time in his career, taking eighth in the B final and 16th overall with a time of 52.59.
"It started tonight with Anton in the breaststroke, and while I think he was a little disappointed, his best event comes tomorrow, and we're optimistic that he'll be ready for that," Pursley said.
Alabama finished day three in 12th place with 98 points, just five points out of 10th place.
The Tide returns to action Saturday morning with another full day, including swims in the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle and 200 breaststroke as well as the 400 freestyle relay. Prelims begin at 10 a.m. ET, while finals start at 6 p.m. ET.
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Players Mentioned
