Courtesy: Alabama Athletics
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama swimming and diving teams return to action this Saturday, traveling to Tallahassee, Fla., to take on the Florida Seminoles.
The meet gets underway at 10 a.m. CT at the Morcom Aquatic Center on the FSU campus. It will be the fourth dual meet for the Crimson Tide men and the fifth for the Crimson Tide women this season. It will also be the first meet of the new year for the Tide swimmers, while UA’s divers are coming off last week’s Tennessee Diving Invite. The Tide and Seminoles both competed at the Georgia Tech Invite in November.
The Crimson Tide and Seminoles last met in dual meet competition on Jan. 12, 2019 in Tuscaloosa, with Alabama winning the men’s meet, 183-117, while the UA women fell, 159-141.
The Crimson Tide comes into Saturday’s showdown sporting nine individual swims that rank in the top-25 nationally this season, while FSU lays claim to three.
Head Coach Coley Stickels Says
“After two good training camps since the end of the fall semester, one in Florida and the other here in Tuscaloosa, we’re ready to get back out there and compete. This will be a good ‘checkpoint’ meet, giving us a look at where we are as we get ready for the stretch run. After a solid week of practice right before school started on Wednesday for the for the spring semester, I was pleased with the way the majority of the team maintained the gains they made before the Christmas break and were able to carry those forward.
National Top-10
- The Crimson Tide has nine individual swims that rank in the top-10 nationally heading into the FSU meet
- Senior Zane Waddell has the fastest time in the nation in the 50 backstroke, going 20.91 at the Georgia Tech Invite, making him the only swimmer this season under 21 seconds
- Waddell is also ranked fifth nationally in the 50 freestyle with a career-best 19.15 and eighth in the 100 backstroke with a 45.46
- Sophomore Kensey McMahon is ranked fourth in the 1,000 freestyle with her 9:42.96 from the UA-UGA dual meet at the start of October, while her 16:03.38 in the 1,650 freestyle, the fourth-fastest mile in UA history, ranks 10th in the nation
- Sophomore Rhyan White is ranked No. 2 in the 200 backstroke with her school-record 1:50.00
- White is also fourth in the 50 backstroke (23.96), fifth in the 100 backstroke (51.12) and tenth in the 100 butterfly (51.71)
Up Next
- The Crimson Tide closes out its dual-meet slate Saturday, Jan. 18 at 10 a.m. CT in its lone home contest of the season against first-year program Montevallo at the Alabama Aquatic Center
For all the latest information on the Alabama swimming and diving teams, follow AlabamaSwimDive on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
