Crimson Tide Women's Swim Team Sets School, SEC and SEC Championships Record in Opening Race
KNOXVILLE, Ala. — The Alabama swimming and diving team opened racing at the Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships with a gold medal to go with a school, SEC and SEC Championships record.
Rhyan White, Avery Wiseman, Morgan Scott and Kalia Antoniou combined to win the women’s 200 medley relay with a school, SEC Championships and SEC record of 1:33.94, becoming the first team in conference history to go under 1:34.00. The win gave the Crimson Tide two in a row after winning last year’s 200 medley relay as well.
The Crimson Tide men got off to a strong start of their own, taking silver in the 200 medley relay with Matt Menke, Derek Maas, Tyler Sesvold and Jonathan Berneburg turning in a season-best 1:22.28 and grabbing Alabama’s seventh SEC medal in the event in the past eight years.
Maas’ 22.63 was the fastest 50 breaststroke split in history.
Alabama closed day one with Kaique Alves, Charlie Hawke, Cam Auerbach and Kacper Piotrowski shattering the school 800 freestyle relay record with a 6:22.54, crushing the previous mark set in 2016 by more than five seconds.
Alves led off the Tide's 800 freestyle relay with a career-best 1:33.28, which ranks him 3rd all-time at UA.
Mela Delmenico, Cora Dupre, Antoniou and Gracie Felner combined to go a season-best 7:03.06 in the women's 800 freestyle relay, taking fifth place. Delmenico led the 800 relay off with a career-best 1:45.77, which ranks her fourth all-time for Alabama.
The Record-Setting Women’s 200 Medley Relay
Kalia Antoniou
Alabama Athletics
Morgan Scott
Alabama Athletics
Rhyan White,
Alabama Athletics
Avery Wiseman,
Alabama Athletics
Rhyan White, Avery Wiseman, Morgan Scott and Kalia Antoniou combined to win the women’s 200 medley relay with a school, SEC Championships and SEC record of 1:33.94, becoming the first team in conference history to go under 1:34.00.
“That was a great start to the meet for our team tonight," Crimson Tide head coach Margo Greer said in a release. "Our women came out swinging, breaking the school, SEC and SEC Championship record on the way to winning the 200 medley relay. We opened racing on the men’s side by taking silver, earning our seventh SEC medal in the 200 medley relay in the last eight years.
"It was really exciting to see Derek Maas step up and go the third fastest 50 breaststroke split in history. With that kind of start, it should be a good week for him. Then closing the night with a school record in the men’s 800 freestyle relay by more than five seconds was another highlight of day one. At this point it’s one session at a time, and we know we need to get after it in the morning to set ourselves up well for finals.”
The meet continues on Wednesday, with prelims starting at 8:30 p.m. CT and finals at 4:30 p.m. The Crimson Tide will compete in the men’s and women’s 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay and the men’s 1-meter springboard.
