The Alabama men’s swimming and diving team continued its winning ways in its second meet of the season, beating the LSU Tigers 161-139 while the Crimson Tide women fell to LSU 198-101 Saturday at the Don Gambril Olympic Pool on the UA campus.
“Overall, it was a good weekend for us,” head diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “Becca came away with two wins and four really solid performances, which was good to see. On the men’s side, we went up against two seniors in Dan Mazzaferro of Auburn and Adam Booher of Alabama who have a lot of experience, but we competed well.
“Becca, Brian and Daniel all came away with NCAA Zone Qualifying scores, so I’m really happy with our efforts."
The Lady Tigers won 13 of 16 events to improve to 2-1 on the season. The Tigers (0-2) claimed seven victories in defeat.
“The Lady Tigers came out from the beginning and raced well throughout the meet to take the victory,” head swimming coach David Geyer said. “The men had another great battle with Alabama. We knew it was going to be a slug fest, and we were in a position to win in the end but came up short.”
Freshman Torrey Bussey recorded a trio of wins, and senior Jane Trepp and sophomore Amanda Kendall each registered a pair of victories to lead the Lady Tigers. Bussey swept the breaststroke events and took first-place in the 200-yard individual medley, while Trepp swam to victory in the 50-yard freestyle (23.18 seconds) and 100 butterfly (55.13).
Kendall came away with wins in the 200 free (1:50.55) and 100 free (51.27).
Sophomore Rebecca St. Germain dove to victory in the women’s one-meter with a winning score of 289.65 and placed second in the three-meter (295.65). Fellow sophomores Sara Haley and Jana Ruimerman and senior Brooke Barnett also raced to victory on the afternoon, and the Lady Tigers’ 200 medley and 400 free relays secured wins.
Haley topped the field in the 200 fly (2:00.00), while Ruimerman reached the wall in 2:01.73 in the 200 back to take the victory. Barnett was first in the 1000 free (10:23.30).
“I thought we did a good job of getting up and racing,” UA head coach Eric McIlquham said. “Overall we did the little things well - getting off the blocks, in and out of turns and finishing races off. We needed to be a little more aggressive with some of our swims, but overall we had a pretty nice meet.”
Alabama's Lauren Piper won the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.01.
“Callan
Buck, who came in as a pretty highly touted freshman, coming off the
U.S. Junior National team, put herself in a position to get the win
today off the 3-meter and that was nice for her,” McIlquham said.
Freshman Marissa Dressel won the 500 freestyle, turning in a 5:03.12 to finish nearly three seconds ahead of the field.
“Marissa
came through and won the 500, which is an event she hasn’t swum a lot,
but she stepped up to help us score some points, and came away with her
first collegiate win,” McIlquham said. “She still has a lot of learning
to do, but she’s doing a nice job for us.”
The Tide men (2-0, 2-0 SEC) won nine of 16 events on the day while the UA women (0-2, 0-2 SEC) saw three rookies come away with their first collegiate victories. The meet was also the Crimson Tide’s second annual Power of Pink meet, sponsored by Tuscaloosa Toyota, with the Alabama women wearing pink suits and the men wearing pink caps. The Alabama Athletics’ Power of Pink initiative raises awareness in the fight against breast cancer.
For the second meet in a row, senior Catalin Cosma got the Tide’s winning ways started by taking the top spot in the 1000 freestyle, posting a 9:20.38 to finish nine second ahead of the field. He also dominated in the 500 freestyle, finishing with a time of 4:32.02, five seconds ahead of the field.
“Once again, Catalin did a nice job with the 500 and 1000 freestyles and making sure we get those wins and those points,” McIlquham said.
Alabama came away with a 1-2-3 sweep of the 200 freestyle, led by junior Joe Ziegler’s winning 1:39.76. Ziegler also won the 200 backstroke, turning in a 1:49.76 to out touch LSU’s Simon Diefenthal by four-hundredths of a second. It marked the second meet in row that Ziegler has won both the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke.
Cosma and Ziegler also chipped in points in some secondary events to help the Tide’s cause. Cosma took second in the 200 IM with a 1:54.62 while Ziegler took fourth in the 50 freestyle as part of a 2-3-4 Alabama finish, posting a 21.46.
“Joe continues to do a great job, going sub-1:40 to win the 200 freestyle, winning the 200 back, coming in and swimming the 50 freestyle, which is outside his realm, to give us a couple of points, and then anchoring our relay to a win,” McIlquham said. “He just keeps rolling.”
Senior Adam Booher swept the diving events, winning the 1-meter board by 30-point margin with 352.00 points and the 3-meter board by nearly 60 points with 389.40 points.
“Adam did a great job on the boards today,” McIlquham said. “We got both his NCAA Zone cuts and just really performed at a high level.”
The Tide also took a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the 200 butterfly with senior Denes Zubcsek leading the way with a time of 1:50.32. Freshman BJ Hornikel won his second 100 freestyle in as many meets, touching the wall at 45.53.
The Tide men finished the day with a strong showing in the 400 freestyle relay, with the “A” relay of freshman Vlad Caciuc, Hornikel, freshman Alex Coci and Ziegler powering home to the win with a 3:01.64.
The Tide returns to action November 18-20 at the UT invitational in Knoxville, Tenn.
The LSU women’s swimming and diving squad emerged victorious over Alabama in commanding fashion, 198-101, while the Crimson Tide men held on for a 161-139 victory over the LSU men Saturday in the Alabama Aquatic Center.
The Lady Tigers won 13 of 16 events to improve to 2-1 on the season. The Tigers (0-2) claimed seven victories in defeat.
“The Lady Tigers came out from the beginning and raced well throughout the meet to take the victory,” head swimming coach David Geyer said. “The men had another great battle with Alabama. We knew it was going to be a slug fest, and we were in a position to win in the end but came up short.”
Freshman Torrey Bussey recorded a trio of wins, and senior Jane Trepp and sophomore Amanda Kendall each registered a pair of victories to lead the Lady Tigers. Bussey swept the breaststroke events and took first-place in the 200-yard individual medley, while Trepp swam to victory in the 50-yard freestyle (23.18 seconds) and 100 butterfly (55.13).
Kendall came away with wins in the 200 free (1:50.55) and 100 free (51.27).
Sophomore Rebecca St. Germain dove to victory in the women’s one-meter with a winning score of 289.65 and placed second in the three-meter (295.65). Fellow sophomores Sara Haley and Jana Ruimerman and senior Brooke Barnett also raced to victory on the afternoon, and the Lady Tigers’ 200 medley and 400 free relays secured wins.
Haley topped the field in the 200 fly (2:00.00), while Ruimerman reached the wall in 2:01.73 in the 200 back to take the victory. Barnett was first in the 1000 free (10:23.30).
On the men’s side, seniors Hannes Heyl and Clint Hallum each had two victories apiece. Heyl raced to wins in the 100 fly (48.98) and 100 backstroke (49.16), and Hallum won the 200 breaststroke (2:06.33) and 200 I.M. (1:53.06).
Sophomore Andrei Tuomola and freshman Michael Saco pitched in with victories in the 100 breast (56.67) and 50 free (20.69), respectively, and the Tigers’ 200 medley relay tandem of James Meyers, Tuomola, Heyl and Saco opened the meet in first-place with a time of 1:29.45.
In diving, junior Brian Gemberling and freshman Daniel Helm spearheaded the Tigers for the second consecutive day as each had runner-up finishes. Gemberling was second in the men’s three-meter with a score of 330.60, while Helm finished second in the one-meter with a career high of 322.20.
“Overall, it was a good weekend for us,” head diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “Becca came away with two wins and four really solid performances, which was good to see. On the men’s side, we went up against two seniors in Dan Mazzaferro of Auburn and Adam Booher of Alabama who have a lot of experience, but we competed well.
“Becca, Brian and Daniel all came away with NCAA Zone Qualifying scores, so I’m really happy with our efforts.”
