Alabama men's swimming recently had a two-day meet with Auburn. Apparently, the meet was quite close with the two teams leading at different points in the meet. Auburn won with a late surge in the meet.
Nonetheless, Alabama appears to be closing the gap on Auburn's dominance. Alabama clearly dominated the middle-distance events, taking first and second in the 200 free, 400 free, and 400 I.M. The Tide also took first in the 200 I.M and 200 ***. The middle distance dominance by Alabama showed up on the Tide's impressive victory in the 800 free relay. The Tide also won the 400 medley relay.
auburntigers.cstv.com/.../ua-au-final.html
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.
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.
