Alabama
SEC Championships
Alabama Swimming and Diving Set for SEC Championships
2/13/2018 12:44:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
The five-day meet gets underway Wednesday in College Station, Texas on the Texas A&M campus
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – After five and half months, the regular season is over for Alabama swimming and diving, with the postseason getting underway Wednesday with the five-day Southeastern Conference Championships being held in College Station, Texas.
The championships are being held in the Student Rec Center Natatorium on the Texas A&M campus. SECs were last held in College Station in 2013, Dennis Pursley's first season as the Crimson Tide's head coach.
The Alabama men are led by junior Robert Howard, who leads the nation and the league in the 100 freestyle coming into the week, as well as senior Luke Kaliszak, who is the league's top 100 backstroker, and Laurent Bams, who is seeded second in the 100 breaststroke. Sophomore sprinter Zane Waddell, who is ranked in the top eight in the SEC in four events, will also be a big factor for the Tide this week.
The UA women are led by seniors Bailey Scott and Mia Nonnenberg, junior Justine Macfarlane and freshmen Leonie Kullmann and Flora Molnar. Scott medaled in the 50 freestyle at last year's SEC Championships on the way to becoming the first Alabama woman under 22 seconds in the event. Nonnenberg is a multi-event scorer at this meet over her first three seasons with the Tide and is the school record holder in three events. Macfarlane has developed into one of the league's top breaststrokers this season.
Molnar and Kullmann have made an immediate impact for the Crimson Tide. Molnar is league's top-seeded freshman in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, while Kullmann has already broken two Alabama school records (200 and 500 freestyles).
Alabama has already enjoyed a strong year when it comes to relays. The Alabama men's "A" squads went undefeated in relay competition during the 2017-18 regular season in dual meets and invitationals and are sixth or better nationally in the 200 and 400 medley and 200 and 400 freestyle relays and top-15 in the 800 freestyle relay. The Tide women's "A" relays went undefeated in dual meet competition, won 12 of 15 relays during the regular season and are ranked in the top-25 nationally in all five relays. The quartet of Molnar, junior Temarie Tomley, Kullmann and Scott set the school 400 freestyle relay during the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational.
There will be two diving events (men's three-meter springboard and women's one-meter springboard) and two relays (the 200 medley and 800 freestyle) on the championships first day. The women's diving prelims get underway at 10:30 a.m. CT, while the men start at 2 p.m. The finals for the diving and relays get started at 4:15 p.m. For the rest of the championships, prelims will start at 10 a.m. with finals getting underway at 6 p.m.
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