The Alabama swimming and diving program honored the 21 records broken this season at a celebration Wednesday afternoon. Seventeen of those records were broken during the SEC Championships, including freshman Anton McKee’s conference championship mark in the 200 backstroke. McKee swam the distance in 1:51.59, the first-ever Alabama swimmer to break the 1:52 threshold.

“We had some hard training, and it’s fun seeing it all pay off,” McKee said. “We went through the season like, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Then you see the record book, and that’s why.”

The surge of broken records is an encouraging sign for the Crimson Tide in the midst of a rebuilding project under second-year head coach Dennis Pursley. Pursley coached the USA National Team for several Olympic Games, compiling one of the most impressive resumes in professional swimming. Most recently, Pursley coached the resurgent Team Great Britain in the London Olympics. Despite a long and illustrious career, Pursley doesn’t know if he’s ever seen a leap like this.

“I have been coaching for 40 years, and there’s been a few good years out of those 40, but I can’t remember one where we broke more than half [of the records],” Pursley said. “Maybe once more than 30 years ago in a club program that I coached, but it doesn’t happen often, where we pretty much rewrite the record board in one year.”

Several Alabama seniors broke records at the tail end of their careers. Stephanie Kinsey was a member of three record-breaking relay squads for the women, and set the school record for the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.58. Senior diver Paige McCleary set a pair of school records in her final home meet, posting a score of 325.88 on the 1-meter board and 377.7 on the 3-meter board.

On the men’s side, seniors Vlad Caciuc and BJ Hornikel were part of several record-breaking relay teams. Hornikel also set records in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle at this year’s national championships.