Alabama
Delta State
Alabama Swimming and Diving Opens 2017-18 NCAA Season at Delta State on Friday
9/13/2017 12:09:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
For the fifth year in a row, Alabama and Delta State will take part in the first dual meet of the NCAA season
For the fifth-consecutive year, Alabama will take on Delta State in the first meet of the collegiate season this Friday at 1 p.m. CT in Cleveland, Miss.
"Getting in a meet in early gives us something to point to through the first weeks of training," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. "Our swimmers and divers know that we're going to compete very early in the process, so there's no time to waste. Every practice counts. It also gives the coaches a very early look at where everyone is and a benchmark as we move forward. This is especially helpful to evaluate our freshmen since our next two opponents are SEC and national powerhouses."
That early look can be especially important when a team has as many newcomers as the Crimson Tide does in 2017-18. The Alabama men and women combine for 27 newcomers this season with the men totaling 14 and the women 13. That is the Tide's largest class by far, with the juniors coming in with 15, the seniors 14 and the sophomores 11.
There are two Olympians among the Tide's rookie class – Flora Molnar, who swam for her native Hungary at the 2016 Rio Games as well as last summer's FINA World Championships, and 2016 Olympian Leonie Kullmann, who began her competitive swimming career in Tuscaloosa before returning to her native Germany to finish her high school career.
While the freshmen are vital to the continued success of both the men's and women's team, Pursley believes the rookies on the women's side have a chance to make a big impact right away.
"On the women's side, we have the strongest freshmen class that we've had in many years at Alabama," Pursley said. "We feel like they are in the position the men were in the second year where the men took a quantum leap in the national rankings."
The men's team returns NCAA champion and All-American Luke Kaliszak as well as All-Americans Matthew Adams, Laurent Bams, Robert Howard, Christopher Reid and Zane Waddell. The women's team returns All-Americans Hannah Musser, Mia Nonnenberg and Bailey Scott.
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