The University of Alabama swimming and diving team will kick off its home season against Florida State Saturday at the UA Aquatic Center. This will be the second meet of the season for the Crimson Tide.

For its season opener, the Crimson Tide swam at Delta State, winning both the men’s and women’s meets. The men won 283-62, and the women won 242-50. Coach Dennis Pursley said the performance at Delta State has improved greatly since last season.

“Just based on any way you want to look at it, whether it’s talent or what we’re seeing in the training pool or what we saw at the first meet results, we’re significantly stronger this year,” Pursley said.

The Crimson Tide is making steady improvements under Pursley, who is in his second year as head coach. Pursley said the upcoming meet will be a challenge, but it will be a great opportunity.

“The confidence is strong,” Pursley said. “It’s going to be a real test for us. On paper, it’s a pretty evenly matched meet on the women’s side, with maybe our women being a little strong on the swimming side of things. On the men’s side … [Florida State is] considerably stronger on paper right now. They’re one of the strongest men’s teams in the country, but on paper, we aren’t at that level yet. We plan to show up with the intention to win this competition.”

Junior Kaylin Burchell said this weekend’s meet will be a thrilling one, especially since it is the first home meet.

“This weekend should be really fun,” Burchell said. “It will be one of our fastest and closest meets we will have this season. It’s going to be interesting. The more competitive the meet is, the more exciting it is because the team gets into it.”

Burchell, a Richmond, Ky., native, has been swimming with the Crimson Tide since her freshman year. She will be swimming the 200 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley.

Earlier this season, Burchell waschosen as one of the three women’s teamcaptains.

“[Being a captain] has been a goal I’ve had since before college,” Burchell said. “I’ve always wanted to be a leader for a team. It’s awesome because it’s not necessarily a quality that I had coming into school, and being a part of the team definitely helps you gain the leadership skill.

The junior said she never planned on being a breaststroker, either. When Burchell was younger, she continued to drop time when swimming breaststroke while all other strokes plateaued.

“To be honest, I wasn’t always a breaststroker,” Burchell said. “I kind of just swam whatever my coach told me to. Right when I got to the age of 12, I realized that breaststroke was probably the stroke that I was going to swim. I’ve enjoyed it the most, too.”