The Crimson Tide swim team returned from Gainesville, Fla., where they competed in the Southeastern Conference championships over the weekend. While each team may have looked like they had sub-par swims, they still were optimistic.
The men’s swim team finished sixth out of eight schools. The Tide finished with a score of 271, a half point behind LSU for fifth place. Despite the standings, freshman B.J. Horniker was not disappointed.
“There were a few areas we could have gotten points,” Horniker said. “Overall, it was a pretty good performance, and we’ll improve next year.”
Heading into the championships with only one loss, the men’s team did not know what kind of performance to expect against the fast competition.
“We weren’t sure how we would finish,” Horniker said. “We were happy with how we finished.”
While the men’s team had a good run this season until their loss against Georgia and their sixth place finish, head coach Eric McIlquham remains positive about the outcome.
“We finished a half point out of fifth,” McIlquham said. “South Carolina finished seventh. Our main goal was to get people to NCAA’s. “
The women’s team finished ninth out of 10 schools. The Tide finished with a score of 195.5, 14.5 points behind eighth place Arkansas. Despite their finish, McIlquham was not too worried but cited instances that hurt them.
“The point totals were tight,” McIlquham said. “When our relay was disqualified it hurt, but our conference is stacked.”
Senior Kate Shannon Gray said she was confident about the team’s performance.
“As a team, we did the best we could,” Gray said “This definitely shows the strength of the conference.”
She also attributes their finish to the speed of the competition they faced at this year’s SEC championships.
“This SEC’s was by far the fastest,” Gray said. “We had good swims, but not fast enough in the morning to make it back to finals.”
Despite their place, the women did have two school records broken. The first record set was in the 400 individual medley by Kate Shannon Gray. Gray swam a 4:09:31, breaking the previous record of 4:11:33 set by Agustina de Giovanni. Gray said she had accomplished a goal of hers.
“It’s something I wanted to do for three years,” Gray said. “My first reaction was overwhelming joy. I knew I could do it and when I saw it I just kept slapping the water.”
The team later watched as another new record was posted. The second record that was set was in the 100m butterfly by freshmen Kristel Vourna. She swam a 52.69, breaking the previous record of 52.97, which was set by Hannah Brinks. Vourna returned only to shave off more time as she swam a 52.16 at finals.
The Tide’s next meet will be the Bulldog Invitational, which will begin on Feb. 26 and end March 6. This meet provides swimmers with a final opportunity to get their cuts for the NCAA meet, which takes place from March 17-26.
