The Alabama Swimming and Diving teams swept South Carolina on Senior Day in the Alabama Aquatic Center and fell to Georgia’s men and women in the Crimson Tide’s last meet of the regular season.
The Alabama men downed the Gamecocks 167-131 and took Georgia down to the wire before losing 169-131. The Tide women beat South Carolina 168.66-131.33 and fell to Georgia 191-109.
“It was a great meet,” Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. “We had several kids who stepped up today and came away with some great performances. Georgia’s women came in here at No. 1 and their men are ranked in the top 10 and we took them down to the wire. We also came away with wins over South Carolina; it’s a good place to be right before our conference meet.”
Prior to the meet, the Tide honored its seven seniors, Caitlin Anderson, Mary Kate Sellers, Van Diehl, Kevin Greer, Alin Mihalca, Chris Perry and Andy Schnack in the last home meet of their careers.
Perry had an outstanding final turn in the Alabama Aquatic Center, winning the 100 backstroke in a time of 48.98 and posting a career-best time in the 200 backstroke, 1:48.49, to move up to ninth place all-time at Alabama.
Junior Aaron Fleshner and sophomore Adam Booher dominated the diving events on the day. Fleshner won the one-meter board with Booher taking second, scoring 323.55 and 292.45 points respectively while Booher won the three-meter with Fleshner taking second. Off the three-meter, Booher scored a 358.90 and Fleshner turning in a 353.70.
Sophomore Catalin Cosma won the 500 freestyle, beating Georgia’s Troy Prinsloo, the SEC’s top-ranked distance swimmer, by nearly three seconds, touching the wall at 4:23.30. In the other premiere battle of the day, sophomore Denes Zubcsek won the 200 butterfly by almost two seconds over Georgia’s Mark Dylla, the SEC’s No. 1 ranked butterflyer coming into the weekend, finishing at 1:45.62. Zubcsek was second in the 100 butterfly, just a tenth of a second behind Dylla with a 48.84.
Alabama’s men opened the meet up by winning the 200 medley relay when Perry, junior Luke Boutwell, Zubcsek and Boulden combined for a time of 1:30.05.
On the women’s side of the meet, junior Agustina de Giovanni had an outstanding day, winning the 100 and 200 breaststrokes with career-best times, turning in a 1:01.10 in the 100, which moves her to second all-time for the Crimson Tide and a 2:12.47, which solidifies her hold on second place in that event. She also won the200 IM, touching the wall at 2:01.24.
The Tide women dominated the 100 butterfly, finishing 1-2-3. Sophomore Ida Brinks won the race at 54.49 while junior Hannah Brinks shaved a tenth of a second off her best time and freshman Suzanne Schwee turned in a season-best time of 55.37, which puts her 10th all-time for Alabama. Persson is fourth and Brinks is sixth on the Tide’s all-time list.
Schwee won the 200 butterfly, inching closer to the school record after turning in a season-best 1:59.43 t o win the event, which puts her just half a second off Victoria Genova’s 2003 record. Junior Elle St. Charles matched her career-best time in the 200 fly, 2:01.49, which puts her sixth all-time for the Tide.
Also climbing the Tide top-10 was junior Julie Richards who moved up to sixth after turning in a career-best 2:01.81, which puts her just behind teammate Allyson Angle. Sophomore Cassie Craddock shaved a quarter of a second off her career-best 100 backstroke, going to 56.12, which solidifies her spot at No. 6 all-time for the Tide.
The Crimson Tide’s strong performance bodes well as Alabama prepares for the upcoming Southeastern Conference Championships, held Feb. 18-21 in Auburn, Ala.
