The last day in September marked the start of the Power of Pink events. This year the women’s swimming team started everything off with a huge win over both Vanderbilt and West Florida.
“I was really pleased with the way our girls raced,” coach Dennis Pursley said. “Compared to where we’ve been the last couple of years, I think we are ahead of the game. Everything you want to look at to evaluate the performance is positive. The purpose in early season competition is to see where you are and see where you need to go to take the next step.”
The Crimson Tide defeated Vanderbilt by a score of 200.5-85.5, and also took down West Florida 201-93. Not only did it win the meet, but Alabama swept all of the relays.
“We never let any[thing] happen by mistake,” Hannah Musser said. “That’s why we are here day in and day out, in order to move up the rankings ladder. Coming out of the beginning of the season and having a dominating presence is always really encouraging and it motivates us every day.”
The men’s swim team also came out in full support of the women. Some of the men came out with their chests painted, while some helped on the 1,000-yard and 500-yard freestyles so they could tell the Alabama swimmers how many laps were left.
The men were much louder than any of the other fans or the other two teams, especially whenever an Alabama swimmer was about to finish the race.
“Just to know that we have the men’s team to back us up 100 percent, it really means a lot,” Mia Nonnenburg said. “I think that’s one area that our team has grown a lot this year. We really look up to them. It’s really special that we have that dynamic.”
The 200-yard medley team made up of Caroline Korst, Bridget Blood, Musser and Bailey Scott kicked off the meet with a two second win. The team of Temarie Tomely, Musser, Scott and Morgan Flemming finished the meet with a first place finish in the 200-freestyle relay.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Alabama won the top three spots. Nonnenburg finished first while Tomely and Cameron Brown finished second and third respectively. This was Nonnenburg’s first of three wins on the night, as she also won the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley relay.
The Crimson Tide also swept the top positions in the 50-yard freestyle, won by Scott. In the marathon 1,000-yard freestyle Alexis Preski took first, winning by over 14 seconds.
Ayanna Woods took first in one meter diving, defeating her teammate Taylor Zablocki by over eight points. Zablocki also finished second in the three-meter diving, this time to another one of her teammates Monica Amaral.
Blood took first in the 100-yard breaststroke over her teammate Justine McFarland by just .04 of a second. However, McFarland won the 200-yard breaststroke by over five seconds.
The two teams join back together on Oct. 14 when it travels to Columbia, Missouri to take on the Missouri Tigers.
