Alabama
Georgia Tech Invitational
Alabama Swimming and Diving Grabs Two Wins and a School Record at Georgia Tech Invitational
11/22/2019 8:28:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
Senior Zane Waddell won the 50 freestyle and led off the Tide’s winning 400 medley relay while sophomore Rhyan White became the first woman under 52 seconds in the 100 backstroke on her way to bettering her own school record
ATLANTA, Ga. – The Alabama swimming and diving teams got things off to a fast start Friday on day one of the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, Ga., with two wins and a school record.
Sophomore Rhyan White bettered her own school record in the 100 backstroke and became the first UA woman under 52 seconds when she touched the wall at 51.93 while leading off the Crimson Tide's 400 medley relay.
Senior Zane Waddell won the 50 freestyle with a 19.20 and led off the Tide's winning 400 medley relay, joining freshman Liam Bell, junior Tyler Sesvold and sophomore Jonathan Berneburg in finishing more than two seconds ahead of the field with a 3:07.51.
White also posted a new career-best mark in the 200 individual medley, going 1:59.15 in finals to rank fifth all-time at UA and third in the meet. Waddell's prelims time in the 50 freestyle was a career-best 19.15, which ranks him third all-time for the Tide.
More from Day One of the Georgia Tech Invitational
- Senior Allie Surrency exploded in the finals of the 50 freestyle, shaving more than a half second off her career-best time, touching the wall with a 22.17, which jumps her to second all-time at Alabama.
- Junior Flora Molnar finished with a career-best 22.27 in the 50 freestyle, ranking her third all-time at UA.
- Prior to this weekend's meet, a total of eight women had gone faster than 22.75 in the 50 freestyle in Crimson Tide history. On Friday, five UA women went faster than 22.72 on the same day, including Surrency and Molnar as well as sophomores Julia Wolf (22.53), Kalia Antoniou (22.55) and Morgan Scott (22.72).
- Senior Alexis Preski (4:40.01) and sophomore Kensey McMahon (4:41.02) finished second and third, respectively, in the 500 freestyle, with both clocking career-best times in the process. Preski is now second all-time in the 500 while McMahon is third.
- Sophomore Kevin Li tallied 364.00 points in the finals of the 3-meter springboard event to take third place, less than two points out of second.
- In addition to Waddell getting the win, Sesvold and Berneburg also posted top-10 finishes in the 50 freestyle. Sesvold clocked a career-best 19.65, which ranks him ninth all-time at UA.
- In addition to White taking third in the 200 individual medley, sophomore Cat Wright posted a career-best 2:00.47 to take eighth place.
- Paced by White's school-record leadoff leg, junior Kaila Wong, Molnar and Scott took third in the 400 medley relay with a 3:33.02, just off the school record.
- The Tide women were also third in the 200 freestyle. Molnar, Antoniou, Scott and Surrency went 1:28.56, just off the school mark, with Surrency anchoring in a blistering 21.78, the fastest split in the meet.
- The Tide men were third in the 200 freestyle relay with Berneburg, Waddell, Sesvold and junior Sam DiSette clocking an 1:18.33. Waddell's 18.88 split was the fastest of the meet.
Coming Up Saturday
- Prelims will get underway at 9 a.m. CT on Saturday, while finals are slated for a 5:30 p.m. start.
- Saturday's events will include the 200 Medley Relay, 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 freestyle relay as well as the women's 3-meter and the men's 1-meter springboard diving events.
For all the latest information on the Alabama swimming and diving teams, follow AlabamaSwimDive on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
Players Mentioned
