Alabama Swimming and Diving Closes November Strong Following Big Weekend in Knoxville
11/24/2021 1:22:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
The Crimson Tide broke six school records and bettered 14 automatic qualifying standards for the 2022 NCAA Championships during the three-day Tennessee Invitational
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama swimming and diving squads closed November with an outstanding showing at last weekend's Tennessee Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn., at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.
The women's team won 10 events on the weekend, including three relays and seven individual golds, while the men also tallied 10 wins, with three coming in relays and seven standing as individual victories.
The Crimson Tide broke six school records on the weekend, four individual marks and two relay standards, while also putting 31 performances on UA's all-time top-10 lists. Alabama had four student-athletes earn six individual swims at the 2022 NCAA Championships. The Tide also saw the women's team garner automatic cuts in all five relays, while the men punched their tickets in three.
In addition to 14 automatic cuts, the Tide also accumulated 78 NCAA provisional cuts over the weekend and 11 bids to the 2022 NCAA Zone B Diving Championships, the diver's gateway to the NCAA Championships.
It was a strong way to finish the last combined swimming and diving meet of 2021. The Tide swimmers are now gearing up for exams and a pair of training camps over the winter break. The Alabama divers have one more competition, the Auburn Diving Invitational, on Dec. 15-18.
Head Coach Margo Geer Said
"Our swimmers and divers put together a great meet in Knoxville over the weekend. It was great to be tested in that sort of environment, knowing that we will be back in the same pool for SECs. Overall, we are very pleased with our team's performance at this point in the season. We broke six school records, posted 14 A cuts, and registered numerous best times. While we are very pleased with our results, this is just a starting point for us, and we are already working on building on it. We are excited for the next half of the season and the things this squad will accomplish moving into the spring semester and championship season."
Going to the Show
- Derek Maas (100 breaststroke), Kensey McMahon (1,650 freestyle), Rhyan White (100 and 200 backstroke) and Avery Wiseman (100 and 200 breaststroke) all posted times during the weekend that bettered the NCAA automatic standard, earning them berths at the national championships
- The Tide women also punched their tickets in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays as well as the 200 and 400 medley relays, while the men's 200 and 400 medley relays and 400 freestyle relay have already claimed championship berths
- The Alabama women's 400 freestyle relay will return to NCAAs as the defending national champions
- On the diving front, Tanesha Lucoe and Halia Bower both earned spots at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships for the women, while Mohamed Farouk, Hunter Jaynes and Kevin Li earned the Zone standard for the men
School Record Smashers
- Alabama broke six school marks during the week, with Derek Maas and Avery Wiseman claiming two each, while the UA woman broke the 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay marks
- Maas broke the school 200 individual medley mark by more than half a second with a 1:43.12 before going on to better the 100 breaststroke mark with a 51.38
- Wiseman absolutely demolished the school 100 and 200 breaststroke marks, using a 57.79 to break the 100 standard by more than a half a second and the going 2:05.46 to chop more than two seconds off the old 200 record
- In addition to breaking the school record, the 200 freestyle relay quartet of Kalia Antoniou, Morgan Scott, Kailyn Winter and Cora Dupre broke the Allan Jones Aquatic Center and Tennessee Invitational meet record with their combined 1:26.38
- Rhyan White, Wiseman, Scott and Antoniou combined to post a 3:27.18 to break the UA record in the 400 medley relay
Meet and Pool Records
- In addition to six school marks, the Tide left Knoxville with nine meet records and six Allan Jones Aquatic Center records
- Eight of those meet records came from this past weekend, with Alabama setting the Tennessee Invitational standards in the women's 200 freestyle relay, 100 backstroke (Rhyan White) and 400 freestyle relay and the men's 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke (Derek Maas) as well as the 100 backstroke (Matt Menke) and the 200 and 400 medley relays
- As for pool records, Alabama broke the women's 200 and 400 freestyle relay and 100 backstroke (White) standards, while the men bettered the 400 medley relay mark
- White also holds the meet and pool record in the 200 backstroke after setting those marks during the 2020 meet, while Tide alum Anton McKee still holds the pool mark after breaking it at the 2017 SEC Championships
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Players Mentioned
