Alabama Men's Swimming closing the gap with Auburn.

Auburn is generally less than impressive in the early season and come around for NCAA's. True, but I don't think the men's team is quite the team they were a few years ago. Also, Alabama has been moving up in the ranks in the last few years with a really good coach. I could see the Tennessee men possibly pulling an upset at the SEC Championship.

Auburn is generally less than impressive in the early season and come around for NCAA's.

I'm sure this has diverted much of the attention from the schools' respective football teams.

I hope Auburn stays on top. AU is the only good thing to come out of the state of Alabama. UT won't pull off the upset either. Florida has a better chance than UT. The vols rest too much for duel meets and then swim about the same time at conference and ncaa's.

You must not read post to clearly. Or you must imply that refences made on this forum about swimming topics, somehow are actually talking about things outside of the world of swimming, that we use special lingo to hide those meanings. I said " I hope Auburn stays on top" in reference to the AU/little bama duel meet. This is a swimming forum, my references are to swimming on this forum. Auburn is still the only good thing to come out of that state. But thanks for your smug, better than you, reply. Dude, relax. Nobody is saying anybody is better than the other. Just enjoying a little SEC rivalry with you. You live close enough to the state to understand the rivalry between Alabama and Auburn. I admire your support of Auburn and don't deny that it is a fine program with some outstanding coaches who also happen to be outstanding people. We fans of the University of Alabama and its swim program are simply thrilled that the team isn't getting as crushed as much as it used to. Lighten up and don't take things so personally or I shall believe what my husband says is true - that you are just mad that Alabama kicks Tennessee's butt in football.

I hope Auburn stays on top. AU is the only good thing to come out of the state of Alabama. UT won't pull off the upset either. Florida has a better chance than UT. The vols rest too much for duel meets and then swim about the same time at conference and ncaa's. Clearly, you have been brainwashed and indoctrinated if you think the only good thing to come out of Alabama is Auburn. We know what team you are routing for in the Iron Bowl! Somebody forgot to tell you about Hank Williams, W.C. Handy, Nat King Cole, Emmy Lou Harris, Carl Lewis, Joe Louis, Helen Keller, Jesse Owens, Hank Aaron, and Harper Lee. Yes, clearly, you have been indoctrinated if you think Auburn is the sole pride and joy of the State of Alabama. Of course, if you are talking about swimming, I'm sure there are a few that swam under Coach Gambril at Alabama that would set you straight. :banana:

4 words: Dual meets mean nothing.

You must not read post to clearly. Or you must imply that refences made on this forum about swimming topics, somehow are actually talking about things outside of the world of swimming, that we use special lingo to hide those meanings. I said " I hope Auburn stays on top" in reference to the AU/little bama duel meet. This is a swimming forum, my references are to swimming on this forum. Auburn is still the only good thing to come out of that state. But thanks for your smug, better than you, reply.

Although a dual meet is but a very small piece of the big picture, things are looking encouraging for Alabama: Junior Mark Randall Finishes Second in the Mile at the USA Swimming Championships The Crimson Tide contingent continued its roll of career-best swims on the championships final day Dec. 6, 2008 ATLANTA, Ga. - Alabama junior All-American Mark Randall capped an outstanding weekend at the USA Short Course National Swimming Championships Saturday with a silver medal finish in the mile. The Crimson Tide contingent also continued its roll of career-best swims on the championships final day. Randall, one of the nation's top distance swimmers, finished with a time of 15:00.83, more than six seconds ahead of the rest of the field. "We had a great weekend, turning some great swims, including several life-time best times," head coach Eric McIlquham said. "At this point in the season, it's a very good indicator of where we are and what we can accomplish if we keep working hard and stay focused on the championship season." Sophomore Denes Zubcsek followed up a career-best 100 butterfly time on Friday, with a personal best in the 200 butterfly. Zubcsek finished fourth with a time of 1:44.91. His time puts him third all-time at Alabama and makes him one of just three Tide swimmers to go under the 1:45 mark. The other two are two-time NCAA Champion and current assistant coach Stefan Gherghel and 1984 Olympic gold medalist Jon Sieben. Junior Riley Boulden finished 14th in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:00.98, just off his personal best. Senior Alin Mihalca, freshman Joe Ziegler, Boulden and Zubcsek combined to touch the wall at 3:04.02 in the 400 freestyle relay, taking 13th place. On the women's side of the meet, freshman Suzanne Schwee finished 14th in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:01.02, after posting a 2:00.30 during preliminaries. Junior Elle St. Charles touched the wall at 2:01.49 in the 200 butterfly, dropping more than a second off her personal best time and moving from 10th to sixth all-time at Alabama. Sophomore Ida Persson dropped nearly three-tenths of a second off her best time in the 100 freestyle, clocking in at 50.32 to move from ninth to third on the Tide's all-time top-10 list. Juniors Allyson Angle and Julie Richards both posted career-best times in the 200 backstroke, touching the wall at 2:02.03 and 2:02.47 respectively. Angle now ranks sixth and Richards seventh all-time for the Tide. Persson teamed with juniors Brooke Baldi, Nichole Roberts and Maggie Zblewski combined to touch the wall 13th in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:25.03. Alabama returns to campus with finals on the horizon next week followed by its winter training camp.

Agreed. It's great to swim fast in a duel meet but if you can't do it in the championship meets, then it means very little. Of course there are those long distance studs that can do both. Time will tell. The wookiee has a friend that swam for Alabama that is my hero. Quite the respectable young man. I was at a triathlon and a young upstart was very rude. The young upstart was expected to win the race, a very competitive race in which all the big guns from Tennessee were present. I saw the wookiee's friend (who I knew swam with a swimmer of mine at Alabama) and said, "You see that guy there? Would you please beat him. He was very rude. I can't beat him as I'm female and older so would you do it for me?" Wookiee's friend sized up the guy and gave him the stare-down. Yes, I was ecstatic to find out at the end of the race that wookiee's friend had beaten the guy and had gotten second overall. The only person who beat him was Bruce Gennari who several times over has been named the USAT Triathlete of the Year. I called my swimmer after the race and told her she needed to marry wookiee's friend as he was such a well-mannered young man. The wookiee does have friends that swam for Alabama but he nonetheless is an Auburn fan. That's o.k. I won't hold it against him.