The No. 9th SwimSwam Power Ranked Alabama Crimson Tide opened the doors to the Alabama Aquatic Center today to host the Georgia Tech Ramblin’ Wreck for their last regular season meet. The dual meet against the ACC team marks Bama’s senior day presentation and annual ‘Power of Pink’ meet, a breast cancer awareness effort. With a final score of 191 – 106, the Bama women put away Georgia Tech as did the men, 199 – 99.
Women’s Meet
With only .04 separating their 200 medley relays, the visiting Georgians Maddie Paschal, Florina Ilie, Laura Branton, and Iris Wang got the best of Bama in this race with their winning time of 1:44.19.
Mia Nonnenberg picked up the 1000 free in 9:58.51 for the Crimson Tide as did Emma Saunders with her 200 free finish of 1:50.06. Saunders was followed to the wall by Georgia Tech’s Italian standout, Chiara Ruiu, at 1:51.75. Ramblin’ Wreck freshman, Sara Gilbert, rocked a 56.74 in the 100 back, but it wasn’t enough to chase down Temarie Tomley’s 56.35. Tomley would also capture the 100 free from Wang in 50.38 to 50.58, a similar situation for Wang as her 50 free was edged Bama’s Morgan Fleming (23.62) by just .05.
The Ramblin’ Wreck got their chance for a share of points when senior Shannon Lumbra’s 290.90 outscored all of Bama’s divers on the 1 meter board and repeated the effort on the 3 meter board with a tally of 293.60.
Stephanie Klotz’ 1:03.37 was the first of seven Bama finishes in the 100 breast, but she was unable to claim both breaststroke races since teammate Marian Yurchishin conquered the 200 breast in 2:16.30. Hannah Musser did what her Crimson Tide teammate couldn’t, she snagged both fly races in 2:00.64 in the 200 and 54.38 in the 100. Leah Bird, who finished second to Musser in the 200 fly, got her own win with the only sub-5 minute 500 free of the field at 4:59.84. Efrat Rotsztjen, a senior from Georgia Tech, would post a 5:08.50 in that race to halt a podium sweep for Bama.
Georgia Tech locked up the last available points by taking places one-two-three in the 200 free relay with Wang, Morgan Lyons, Megan Hansen, and Ruiu leading the way in 1:35.76.
Men’s Meet
Both Bama’s A and B 200 medley relays out swam Georgia Tech’s 1:31.02 with the top time going to Connor Oslin, Pavel Romanov, Kristian Gkolomeev, and Alex Gray’s 1:27.76.
Senior Yuval Safra’s mark of 9:22.17 in the 1000 free led the way for the Ramblin’ Wreck, but starting with Matthew Adams’ 1:38.17 in the 200 free, the Bama men rolled through the next event taking the top four from their opponent. The 100 back was won by Bama’s Luke Kaliszak in 47.71 and later he would place second in the 100 fly (48.11), just ahead of Georgia Tech’s Ben Southern (49.15). Southern returned for the second butterfly race of the day to win the 200 fly in 1:47.62.
Georgia Tech scored deep points in the 100 breast, starting with international standout and second place finisher Moises Loschi’s 55.77, but Romanov would claim this race in 54.71. Loschi would get the best of Romanov when it came to the 200 breast, however, out touching him 2:00.31 to 2:00.69. Noah Harasz also collected points for the visiting team by just barely taking third in the 50 free as Robert Howard (20.61) and Gkolomeev (19.74) went one-two in that race.
Flipping over to the diving portion, it was Brent Sagert from Bama who led the way on the 1 meter at 312.50 and 352.70 on the 3 meter. Georgia Tech diver, Matt Casillas, finished third on the lower board (304.40), but rose up to second place when he dove for 341.15 on the 3 meter.
The Crimson Tide men gather a few more top placements throughout the day including Oslin’s 1:46.06 200 back, Brian Westlake’s 4:30.37 500 free, Taylor Charles’ 3:56.20 400 IM, and lastly Laurent Bams, who blasted a 43.66 to defeat Gkolomeev in the 100 free. With the Bama relays in exhibition, the three Georgia Tech relays capped the day’s races at 1:22.90, 1:24.26, and 1:25.74.
