The Alabama men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both cruised to Senior Day victories over Cincinnati Friday at the Alabama Aquatic Center. The women won by a score of 189-103 while the men were victorious by a 201-94 margin.
All-American Kaylin Burchell posted a victory in the 100 butterfly on her senior day with a time of 56.53. Sophomores Leah Bird and Bailey Scott each picked up individual victories as Bird won the 200 butterfly and Scott won the 50 freestyle.
Sophomore Bridget Blood swept the breaststroke races, scoring times of 1:04.60 and 2:17.85 in the 100 and 200, respectively. Junior Emma Saunders continued her strong campaign, winning the 100 backstroke and the 500 freestyle.
Mia Nonnenberg continued her stellar rookie season, winning both the 200 backstroke and 200 IM. The Tide women closed the evening strong as Scott, Saunders, freshman Temarie Tomley and junior Justine Panian posted the top time in the 200 freestyle relay.
On the men’s side of the action the Tide won 13 of 16 races, including sweeps of the breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly races.
Sophomores Pavel Romanov and Anton McKee won the 100 and 200 breaststroke races, respectively. Romanov blew away the field in the 100, swimming a time of 55.70, nearly three seconds better than his nearest competitor. McKee edged out Romanov in the 200, touching the wall in a time of 2:00.55.
Sophomore Connor Oslin, known for his backstroke prowess, won both the 100 and 200 freestyle events. Oslin brought home the 100 with a time of 45.86 and touched the wall in a time of 1:40.04 to edge out McKee in the 200.
For the backstroke races, freshman Luke Kaliszak turned in a time of 49.41 to win the 100, while newcomer Christopher Reid swam the fastest time in the 200 with a 1:47.16, which ranks him seventh all-time at Alabama. Sophomore Taylor Charles brought home the win in the 200 butterfly, while junior Abbas Qali won the 100 butterfly.
All-American Kristian Gkolomeev continued his perfection in the 50 freestyle, remaining undefeated in the event by swimming a time of 20.10 to best the field by nearly a second. Junior Brian Westlake won the 500 freestyle late in the meet to give the Tide a distance freestyle victory.
Alabama’s men opened the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay as the group of Crews Wellford, Brett Walsh, Kaliszak and Gkolomeev touched the wall with a time of 1:29.64. The 200 freestyle relay team closed the meet out in the same fashion as the group of Oslin, sophomore Alex Gray, Kaliszak and Gkolomeev touched the wall with a time of 1:22.41 to pick up the victory.
In the diving events, sophomore Brent Sagert swept on the men’s side of the action, while fellow sophomore Taylor Zablocki swept the women’s events.
The Tide returns to action on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at the SEC Championships, hosted by Auburn at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center. The championships is held through five days, concluding on Saturday, Feb. 21.
