Although the Alabama swimming and diving team lost multiple All-Americans from last year, including Kate Shannon Gray, Catalin Cosma and Adam Booher, head coach Eric McIlquham said he has high expectations for both the men’s and women’s teams this year.
The men’s side has a great amount of incoming talent to step up and replace the seniors from last year.
“We’re very deep on our men’s side,” McIlquham said. “It’s kind of a good problem to have, going four, five, six deep in the lineup.”
The men’s team enters the season ranked No. 21 nationally in the preseason polls. However, Coach McIlquham said he was not content with that double-digit ranking at all.
“We’re better than that,” McIlquham said. “It’s about looking forward.”
The men will look to improve their ranking on Oct. 15, when they face South Carolina and Florida State. Both the Gamecocks and Seminoles are ranked nationally, giving the Crimson Tide stiff competition to start the season.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re in heat one or heat two, you’re racing everybody, and when you score five deep, every point counts,” McIlquham said. “Every point we get, that’s one point they don’t.”
For the women’s team, they are not ranked in the preseason, but McIlquham said that gives them a chip on their shoulders.
“Yeah, it’s something that we shoot for,” he said.
Being unranked gives the Tide a chance to pull off an upset, and that is exactly what the women will look to do down in Tallahassee.
Sophomore Kristel Vourna, the school record holder in the 100 butterfly and a 2011 FINA World Championship participant, will lead the Tide on its journey to become one of the top programs in 2011.
Perhaps the biggest pride that the teams take is something beyond athletics: education. Alabama is No. 1 in the nation for men’s GPA with a 3.44, and No. 2 in the nation for women’s with a 3.63.
“We always talk about athletics and academics, and there’s got to be a fine balance between them,” McIlquham said. “Our kids don’t get drafted into the professional swimming league once they go.”
The Tide will travel to Tallahassee, Florida to face Florida State and South Carolina on Oct. 15 before returning home on Oct. 29 to battle Emory and Tulane.
