Swimcloud

Tide Rolls Over Delta State in Opener

The Alabama swimming and diving teams, in the first dual meets in the nation this season, came away with a pair of wins at Delta State. The Crimson Tide men won 213-49, while the Alabama women beat DSU, 219-42.

“We’re starting out well ahead of where we did last year and we got some really aggressive swims from a number of our freshmen,” UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. “It was a good afternoon for us – they were racing hard. The team is progressing from year to year, and this was definitely a good start for us.”

Senior Emma Saunders and junior Bridget Blood combined with sophomores Hannah Musser and Temarie Tomley to open the season with a win in the 400 medley relay, touching the wall with a 3:45.62. Juniors Connor Oslin and Anton McKee joined seniors Abbas Qali and Brett Walsh to get the men off to a quick start, winning the 400 medley relay with a 3:18.56.

From there, the Tide men and women combined to win the next 26 races, sweeping the individual and relay races, with 13 different swimmers taking first in the individual events.

Sophomore Paige Matherson and junior Jack Hadjiconstantinou picked up the Crimson Tide’s first individual wins of the season, taking top honors in the 1,000 freestyle. Matherson won the women’s race with a 10:19.60 while Hadjiconstantinou won the men’s contest after touching the wall with a 9:35.28. Matherson went on to win the 500 freestyle later in the meet with a time of 5:03.26.

Senior Emma Saunders got her final season off to a good start, winning both the 200 freestyle (1:50.40) and the 200 backstroke (2:00.90).

Freshman Knox Auerbach earned the first win of his crimson and white career after posting a 1:39.38 to take top honors in the 200 freestyle. Katie Kelsoe also got her rookie campaign started with a win, taking first in the 100 backstroke after stopping the clock at 56.12.

Juniors Bridget Blood and Pavel Romanov swept the breaststroke events. Blood won the 100 breaststroke with a 1:03.97 and the 200 in a time of 2:19.16 while Romanov clocked a 55.43 in the 100 and a 2:01.26 in the 200.

Sophomore Mia Nonnenberg won the women’s 200 butterfly with a 2:01.03 while junior Taylor Charles won the men’s 200 butterfly (1:49.60). Nonnenberg also won the 200 individual medley (2:04.05). McKee won the men’s 200 IM with a 1:52.33.

Senior Crews Wellford won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:39.31 while junior Carl Madden won the 500 freestyle with a 4:37.31. Tide newcomer Hannah Musser won the 100 butterfly with a 55.61 while Oslin won the men’s 100 fly with a 49.28.

Alabama closed out the meet by sweeping the 400 freestyle relays. Saunders, Tomley, Scott and senior Justine Panian combined to win the women’s race with a 3:27.49 while Auerbach, Oslin, junior Carlo Rezzonico and Wellford won the men’s race with a 3:02.42.

While the vast majority of the Crimson Tide’s lineup saw action against Delta State, two-time NCAA champion Kristian Gkolomeev, who posted a top-eight finish in the 50-meter freestyle at this summer’s FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, will make his 2015-16 debut in the Tide’s Oct. 9 home opener against in-state rival Auburn.

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