Alabama Swimming and Diving Set for 2020 SEC Championships

AUBURN, Ala. – The Alabama swimming and diving teams open the postseason Tuesday with day one of the 2020 Southeastern Conference Championships in the James E. Martin Aquatic Center on the Auburn University campus.

The championships run through Saturday. Tuesday's preliminary events get underway at 10:30 a.m. CT, while finals begin at 4:15 p.m. For the rest of the week, prelims begin at 9:30 a.m. and finals get underway at 5:30 p.m.

This week marks the seventh time Auburn has hosted the championships since 1960 and the first time since 2015. Alabama's men finished sixth and the women were 11th at last year's SEC Championships, which were held in Athens, Ga.

Head Coach Coley Stickels Says

"Coming into the postseason, we have a new staff, a new pool, new resources and we have new expectations and we're excited to see what we can do. This will be the first time that we'll really have a chance to assess where we are, since this will the first time this season that we're going into a meet following a rest and taper phase. Hopefully we can go out there this week and qualify a lot of people for the NCAA Championships."

Alabama at the SEC Championships

The Crimson Tide women are sending four seniors, five juniors, eight sophomores and five freshmen to the 2020 SEC Championships
In addition to the five freshmen, four other UA women are making their debuts at this year's SECs, including two sophomore transfers
Senior women Kacey Oberlander and Alexis Preski are both slated to make their fourth appearance at the SEC Championships
The Alabama men are sending three seniors, four juniors, nine sophomores and six freshmen to the 2020 SEC Championships
In addition to the six freshmen, four additional UA men are making their SEC Championships debuts this week
Senior men Daniel Kober, Kyle Maas and Zane Waddell are all slated to make their fourth-consecutive appearance at the SEC Championships
Waddell is the defending SEC 100 backstroke champion
Alabama set the SEC Championships record in the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays in 2019
Waddell swam legs on the Tide's 2019 SEC Champion 200 medley and 200 and 400 freestyle relays
Junior Sam DiSette also swam a leg on the Tide's 200 freestyle relay, while sophomore Jonathan Berneburg swam on the 400 freestyle relay

The Crimson Tide's Podium Seedings

Alabama's men are seeded No. 1 in the 200 medley relay by .01 over Texas A&M after posting a 1:24.43 at the Georgia Tech Invitational in November
Waddell is seeded No. 1 in the men's 50 freestyle (19.15) after posting a career-best time at the Georgia Tech Invitational
Waddell is also seeded No. 2 in the 100 backstroke with a 45.46 and No. 3 in the 100 freestyle with a 42.79 with both marks coming at the Georgia Tech Invitational
Sophomore Rhyan White is seeded first in the women's 200 backstroke (1:50.00) and second in the 100 backstroke (51.12), with both being school record marks set at the Georgia Tech Invitational
Alabama is seeded second and third in the women's 100 butterfly, with White sitting at No. 2 with a school-record 51.71, while junior Flora Molnar is at No. 3 after stopping the clock with a career-best 51.80, with both times came at the Georgia Tech Invitational

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