Alabama Men’s Swimming & Diving Continues to Score at the NCAA Championships
3/25/2022 9:15:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
The Crimson Tide pulled in big points in the 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly and the 400 medley relay on the championships’ third day
ATLANTA – The Alabama men's swimming and diving team posted a trio of top-nine finishes to score big points on day three of the NCAA Championships being held at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Ga., this week. The Crimson Tide is in 12th place in the team race with 80 points after three days of competition.
Alabama closed the night with a big swim from Matt Menke, Derek Maas, Tyler Sesvold and Jonathan Berneburg, who came together to take ninth place in the 400 medley relay with a season-best 3:03.13 after coming into Atlanta seeded 11th. The Tide climbed five places from its 2021 NCAA Championships 400 medley relay finish, going more than two seconds faster than a year ago.
Maas opened the Crimson Tide's evening by taking seventh place in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 51.34, reaching the podium. Maas went two seconds faster than his swim in the 100 at the 2021 NCAA Championships and went from not scoring to earning a place in the championship final.
Menke posted a career-best 44.96 in the prelims of the 100 backstroke, dropping below 45 seconds for the first time in his career, to earn a spot in the B final, before dropping another three tenths of a second at night to win the B final with a 44.66, finishing ninth overall. With Friday's career-best swim, Menke now ranks third all-time at UA, just a tenth of a second behind second place. Menke also moved up from last year's NCAA finish, going from 12th to ninth.
Alabama Head Coach Margo Geer Said
"Today was big for us. We had some great swims in the morning and then came back and made the most of our opportunities tonight. The job that Matt, Derek, Tyler and Jonathan have done in the medley relays has been outstanding and made a big difference for us. It was great to see Derek in the championship final in the 100 breaststroke and to have Matt go best times in back-to-back races after the season he's had was really special. We have one more day and we need to get after it in the morning and finish strong."
The Schedule
- Saturday will feature a full slate of events each day with prelims getting underway at 9 a.m. CT and finals starting at 5 p.m. CT
- For the Crimson Tide, Saturday's preliminary session includes the 200 backstroke, 200 backstroke and platform diving, while finals will see the Tide in the 400 freestyle relay
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Players Mentioned
