Alabama
SEC Championships
Alabama Swimming and Diving Wins Relay, Breaks Two School Records at SEC Championships
2/15/2018 9:12:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
The Crimson Tide came away from day two of the conference championships with the men’s 200 freestyle relay title and two more school records
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Alabama swimming and diving team finished strong on day two of the Southeastern Conference Championships being held on the Texas A&M campus this weekend.
The Crimson Tide men closed the day by winning the 200 freestyle relay. Junior Robert Howard, sophomore Zane Waddell, senior Braxton Young and junior Laurent Bams combined for a time of 1:16.38, two-tenths of a second ahead of second place Florida. The Crimson Tide women also reached the podium in the 200 freestyle relay when freshman Flora Molnar and seniors Temarie Tomley, Lindsay Morrow and Bailey Scott used a school-record 1:28.11 to take third place, just .01 out of second.
"We started off great in the first race with Leonie Kullmann setting a school record and swimming a time that will get her invited to the NCAA Championships in the women's 500 freestyle," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. "Then of course the 200 freestyle relays, our women were in the top three, broke the school record and had an NCAA automatic qualifying time. Then to finish up with a surprise win on the men's side, it was a good finish for us."
Scott also reached the podium in her final individual event of the day. She was one of just three women on the night under 22 seconds in the 50 freestyle, clocking a 21.96 to make it back to the podium with a third-place finish. Alabama finished 2-3-4 in the B final of 50 freestyle with Molnar (22.48) taking 10th overall, Morrow (22.52) taking 11th and Tomley posting a career-best 22.54 to finish 12th overall.
Howard also made it to the podium of the men's 50 freestyle, taking third with a time of 19.14 while sophomore Zane Waddell was fourth in the 50 with a time of 19.43. Alabama was the only school with two in the top-five of the men's 50.
Freshman Tyler Sesvold, after clocking a career-best 19.89 in prelims, took seventh in the B final and 15th overall. Young, swimming in the first SEC Championships of his career, scored in the 50 freestyle, taking third in the C final and 19th overall with a career-best 19.88 while sophomore Christopher Staka was seventh in the C final and 23rd overall with a 20.15.
Leonie Kullmann started off the Tide's night the way she ended day one, by bettering her own school record. The freshman won the B final of the 500 freestyle and finished ninth overall with a time of 4:39.36, bettering the previous record she set in the fall by more than two seconds.
Senior Christopher Reid took third in the B final and 11th overall in the 200 individual medley with a career-best 1:44.51, which ranks him second all-time at Alabama and puts him just .04 off Anton McKee's school mark set in 2017. Junior Laurent Bams was eighth in the B final and 16th overall in the 200 IM after posting a career-best 1:45.91 in prelims. Sophomore Kyle Maas posted a career-best 1:46.86 in the C final of the 200 IM, taking 22nd overall. Bams' time ranks him fourth all-time at Alabama while Maas' time ranks him fifth.
Junior Robby Costine (296.15) and senior David Morton (264.90) both scored off the 1-meter springboard, taking 18th and 24th place, respectively.
"We really had a good night tonight," Pursley said. "But the problem we had was we just didn't qualify enough swimmers this morning like we needed to. You've got to get it done in the morning to have a chance to have a second swim. The ones who did make it to tonight really stepped it up a notch. Hopefully the performances this evening will get the team fired up and we can come back and get more people in the finals the next three days."
Friday's events include men's and women's 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle as well as the women's 3-meter springboard diving event, with prelims getting started at 10 a.m. CT and finals starting at 6 p.m.
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Players Mentioned
