Alabama Swimming and Diving Teams Have Strong SEC Tournament
The Alabama swimming and diving teams had a strong showing at the SEC tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee this week.
The men finished second and the women finished third. It was the teams' best finishes since 1987 and 1994 respectively.
The Florida Gators won on the men's side for the 10th year in a row. Tennessee took home the trophy for the women.
Rhyan White continued to dominate the field in backstroke. She won her sixth SEC backstroke championship by claiming gold in the 200 and 100 meter race for the third year in a row. White now has nine individual medals.
The Alabama women also had a clean sweep in the women's 100 freestyle. Morgan Scott set a new school record and claimed gold in the event with her time of 47.32. Kalia Antoniou and Diana Petkova finished second and third.
On the men's side, Derek Maas set an SEC Championship record in the 200 breaststroke event with a time of 1:51.56. This completed Maas's sweep in the breaststroke events.
Head coach Margo Geer was proud of her teams' effort at the SEC Championship.
"It was an incredible week for our team in Knoxville. I am proud of the way we battled for every point and every place, and how we handled adversity. To have our best finish as a men's team since 1987 and the best of the women's team since 1994 is an incredible accomplishment and one we're going to build on going forward," Geer said.
Alabama finished the five-day event with 23 podium finishes and 11 gold medals.
The two teams will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships at the NCAA Zone B Championships which are scheduled to take place March 7-9 in Atlanta.