The Alabama swimming and diving team will travel to Athens, Ga., to take on the University of Georgia in the final meet of the regular season.
When the Crimson Tide gets to the Gabrielsen Natatorium it will be missing a number of its most important contributors – some by choice, others by circumstance. With Southeastern Conference Championships only a few weeks away, coach Dennis Pursley said many athletes will stay in Tuscaloosa this weekend to rest.
“We’ve got kind of conflicting objectives this weekend, as is often the case,” Pursley said. “On the one hand, we want to, as always, score as many points as we can against Georgia, who is a national powerhouse swimming and diving program. On the other hand, though, it’s our final tune-up opportunity for the conference championships, which is our highest priority. Unfortunately, as far as event selection is concerned, what we need to do to achieve one goal is different from the other, and we are giving the priority to preparation for the SEC Championships. We will not take the full roster to Georgia.”
The presence of several young swimmers will complicate the squad selection for the Georgia meet. Georgia will also be the host of the SEC Championships from Feb. 18-22, and the chance to get an early look at the championship venue will influence Pursley’s decisions.
“We’ve got some swimmers competing at the SEC Championships that will stay at home,” Pursley said. “We’ve got others that will need a final tune-up opportunity, and it will be in their best interest to travel to Georgia and compete against some of the best in the country … We’re taking the approach that we feel will give us the best shot at conference championships. I normally would have some reservations about traveling this close to championships, but … the benefit of getting a look at the competition venue, especially for the freshmen, is significant. There’s other things that we need to consider, but that certainly is a benefit.”
The weekend will be the second in flux for Alabama. The team tried many new things in the wildly successful Senior Day meet against Emory last weekend with an eye on preparing for the conference championships.
“A lot of the swimmers were swimming events that they have not had the opportunity to compete in previously this year,” Pursley said. “It was a good opportunity to do some things different that I think will help them down the road.”
The roster is still “tentative and subject to change,” Pursley said, but definitely missing from the Crimson Tide’s ranks this weekend will be the coach himself. Pursley is currently serving a two-meet in-house suspension for Level III NCAA violations, but will return for the SEC Championships.
