The Alabama swimming and diving teams hosted Tennessee at home in the Don Gambril Olympic Pool on Saturday. The meet ended with the Crimson Tide being swept, with both the men’s and women’s teams falling to the Volunteers.
The day also stood as the team’s senior day, and head coach Margo Geer said that all 16 of the athletes positively impacted the team and the program as a whole but that there is still work to be done to improve their final seasons.
“We still have a lot of competition and training left, and I can’t wait to see them finish their collegiate careers strong,” Geer said.
Women’s
Despite the 190-109 loss, the women’s team posted numerous top-two finishes, including a new record. Many of the athletes competed in multiple events at the meet.
Sophomore Cadence Vincent, junior Charlotte Rosendale, sophomore Jada Scott and senior Kailyn Winter stood atop the podium for the 200-yard freestyle relay. Finishing with a 1:28.07, the team set a new record inside the Alabama Aquatic Center. The previous record of 1:29.07 was set in 2008 by Tennessee.
Vincent secured a second-place finish in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events, with times of 22.23 and 48.93 seconds, respectively.
Junior Emily Jones, senior Avery Wiseman, Scott and Vincent received silver in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:35.57.
Wiseman won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:10.06.
Jones also placed first in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing in 52.72 seconds.
Senior Liberty Williams placed second in the 1000-yard freestyle at 9:44.81. She also got second in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing in 4:48.88.
Graduate student Diana Petkova finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 59.41 seconds. She recently broke the Bulgarian national record in the World Aquatic Championships with a 58.79 finish in the 100m medley preliminary round. She then beat her own record in the semifinals with a 58.28, finishing seventh overall.
Freshman Rin Drudge placed second in both 1- and 3-meter dive, scoring 265.13 and 289.95, respectively. With those scores, Drudge secured NCAA Zone cuts for both events.
Men’s
The men’s team also fell to Tennessee, with a score of 189-111. There were standout performances, with senior Charlie Hawke and sophomore Leonardo Alcantara earning multiple gold medals while freshman Nigel Chambers and senior Peter Edin surpassed the cut for NCAA Zones in diving.
Hawke performed well, winning the 200- and 500-yard freestyle races. He also placed second on the 200-yard freestyle relay team.
Alcantara won the 1000-yard individual freestyle; he also finished two-tenths of a second behind Hawke in the 500-yard freestyle with a 4:19.50 finish.
Sophomore Tommy Hagar, graduate student Trey Sheils, and juniors Tim Korstanje and Drayden Bell clocked 1:25.44 in the 200-yard medley relay to win silver. Korstange, Bell and Hawke competed alongside Kaique Alves to secure another second-place finish for Alabama, finishing in 1:17.89.
Alves earned two silver medals in the meet for his relay finish and his performance in the 200-yard freestyle. He finished his individual race in 1:33.45.
Hagar returned to the second step of the podium after he raced in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing in 46.08 seconds. He also stood atop the podium, winning gold in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:41.17.
Despite the loss, many athletes have already punched individual tickets to compete in the NCAA Zones at Auburn, which begin on Friday, March 7.
The team will next compete at Auburn against the Tigers on Friday, Jan. 24, at 3 p.m. CT. The postseason begins with the SEC championships in Athens, Georgia, starting on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
