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
Zach Winchester? If that was him, yea, he is a nice guy.
Yes, it was. I just love him! I was trying to figure out the swim course when I saw him at the triathlon and asked him about the swim course. Then I told him about the young upstart.
I saw Zach at my swimmer's wedding this summer. She married a guy that is a runner. From what I recall, I think Zach said he has moved to Florida.
Zach is a nice guy...his whole family is. I graduated with his oldest brother from Baylor. He is back in Chattanooga now.
Yeah, I remember seeing his dad and brother at the triathlon. They seem like really nice, humble people. I told his dad about the upstart and told him that he had raised Zach well.
4 words: Dual meets mean nothing.
Dual meets obviously mean something to Mark Randall:
Junior Mark Randall Earns Automatic NCAA Berth in Alabama-Auburn Dual Meet
All-American Mark Randall earned his third trip to the NCAA Championships with his winning time in the 1500m freestyle.
Nov. 22, 2008
Results | Photo Gallery
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama swimming and diving team capped off its two-day, two-city meet with Auburn with two more NCAA cuts, running the Crimson Tide's total to nine on the weekend including All-American Mark Randall who earned an automatic berth in the mile.
The Tide and Tiger swimmers competed in Tuscaloosa, going long course and breaking the meet into three sessions that followed the championship order of events while the divers did battle in Atlanta during the Georgia Tech Diving Invitational. Alabama's men used a dominating outing in the distance freestyle and IM events to keep the meet close, but eventually fell 206-165 while Alabama's women, without All-American Agustina de Giovanni, out with a strained back, fell 232.5-137.5.
"We had a good weekend with some very good swims," Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "There were some great races throughout the weekend. We came away with several NCAA cuts and some great individual performances. Now we just have to continue to work, improve and focus on what we want to do in the championship season."
For the Tide swimmers, the meet was a chance to put their intensive long course (50-meter) training throughout the fall to the test prior to making the transition to the second half of the season when the squad's training will be primarily short course (25-yard).
Randall continued his outstanding junior campaign, winning his third individual event of the weekend, touching the wall at 15:19.89 in the 1500-meter freestyle, a time that puts him tops in the nation and earns him a third trip to the NCAA Championships. Sophomore All-American Catalin Cosma was second with a time of 16:02.21 while junior Drew Finelli took third place.
Sophomore Denes Zubcsek won the 200 butterfly by more than five seconds, touching the wall at 2:00.31 Junior Riley Boulden won the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:21.91.
On the women's side of the meet, freshman Suzanne Schwee and sophomore Kacey Weddle went one-two in the 200m butterfly with Schwee touching first at 2:17.11.
And from Atlanta, Alabama went one-two off both boards. Sophomore Lauren Dunn won the one-meter competition after scoring 270.55 points, followed by freshman Carrie Dragland. Dragland then came back to win the three-meter, scoring 302.5 points, with Dunn taking second. The Tide swimmers were return to action at the USA Short Course National Championships in two weeks before final exams and winter break.
4 words: Dual meets mean nothing.
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.
Zach Winchester? If that was him, yea, he is a nice guy. And your hubby is wrong...I don't hate or care that Alabama or anyone else beat Tennessee in football. I don't care that much for football in general.
Yes, it was. I just love him! I was trying to figure out the swim course when I saw him at the triathlon and asked him about the swim course. Then I told him about the young upstart.
I saw Zach at my swimmer's wedding this summer. She married a guy that is a runner. From what I recall, I think Zach said he has moved to Florida.
Zach is a nice guy...his whole family is. I graduated with his oldest brother from Baylor. He is back in Chattanooga now.
