Alabama
Men's NCAA Championships
Alabama Men’s Swimming & Diving Earns Eighth-Consecutive Top-15 NCAA Championship Finish
3/26/2022 8:36:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
The Crimson Tide tallied 91 points to finish 14th at the national championships, moving up one spot from a year ago
ATLANTA – The Alabama men's swimming and diving team took 14th place at the NCAA Championships which were held at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Ga., this week, moving up one spot from a year ago and tallying its eighth-straight top-15 national finish.
The Alabama men have now tallied 41 top-25 finishes since taking 19th place in 1974. The Crimson Tide's national finish comes on the heels of a second-place Southeastern Conference Championships finish, its best since 1987.
Alabama clinched its top-15 national finish by taking 14th in the meet's final event, the 400 freestyle relay. Kaique Alves used a career-best 42.52 in the leadoff spot and was followed by Jonathan Berneburg, Derek Maas and Matt Menke, stopping the clock at 2:49.16.
With its finish in the 400 freestyle relay, Alabama scored in all five relays at the national championships for the first time since 2016.
The Tide opened Saturday's finals with a pair of swims in the 200 backstroke. Matt Menke posted a career-best time in the prelims (1:40.19) to earn a place in finals, and then came back with another career-best mark (1:40.02) to move up to 14th place overall. Jake Marcum also earned a place in the finals and used a 1:40.66 to move up a spot at night, taking 15th place.
Alabama Head Coach Margo Geer Said
"I am so proud of this team and all they did to get to tonight and finish this season off with another top-15 finish. We knew coming in that this would take complete team effort and that' what we got, from scoring all five relays to working for every individual point, the Crimson Tide never stopped fighting. From taking second at the SEC Championships to being 14th in the nation, we are looking forward to building on the momentum of this season and taking it into next year."
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Players Mentioned
