AUBURN – The Alabama women’s swimming and diving team opened and closed its dual meet at Auburn with relay wins and added five individual victories, but came up just short in the end, falling to the Tigers, 169-131. Led by a pair of individual wins from senior Zane Waddell and a decisive 200 medley relay win to start the meet, the men lost to the Tigers, 175-125.
Sophomore Rhyan White, juniors Kaila Wong and Flora Molnar and senior Allie Surrency won the 200 medley relay to start the meet, going 1:39.72, while Surrency, sophomore Kalia Antoniou, Molnar and sophomore Julia Wolf closed things out with a 3:18.82 to win the 400 freestyle relay.
Waddell won the 100 backstroke, touching the wall at 48.14, and led a top-four Tide sweep in the 50 freestyle, going 20.26 for the win. Waddell also led off the Tide’s winning 200 medley relay to open the meet, combining with freshman Derek Maas, junior Tyler Sesvold and sophomore Jonathan Berneburg to clock a 1:27.59. In all, the UA men won five individual events.
“Just like any other sport, it’s tough to go on the road in the SEC. This wasn’t the outcome we were looking for, but we had some strong events,” Alabama coach Coley Stickels said. “On the women’s side, the relays took control of their races and I thought Flora swam tough. For the men, I thought Kevin Li had a good day on the 3-meter board and Zane continues to have an outstanding season. Now, it’s back to Tuscaloosa and the kind of grind that is going to pay off in the championship season.”
Sophomore Kevin Li dominated the 3-meter springboard, tallying 397.43 points for the victory. Sophomore Kensey McMahon continues to roll in the distance, posting a 9:48.64 to take top honors in the 1,000 freestyle.
Sophomore Morgan Scott led a 1-2-3 Alabama sweep in the 100 backstroke with a 54.96, with freshman Abby Koczo taking second and sophomore Morgan Liberto finishing third. Freshman Liam Bell earned another breaststroke win, taking first in the 100 with a time of 55.57, while Maas was second
Senior Alexis Preski won the 200 butterfly, getting under two minutes with a time of 1:59.91, while White was second. White won the 200 backstroke, going 1:55.00. In addition to swimming legs on both of Alabama’s winning relays, Molnar took top honors in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.77.
Sophomore Nicholas Perera closed out the Tide’s individual slate of events by winning the 200 individual medley with at time of 1:50.84, finishing four seconds ahead of the field.
Waddell led a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the 50 freestyle, followed by Sesvold, Berneburg and junior Sam DiSette.
The Crimson Tide divers return to the Plains Dec. 17-19 for the Auburn Diving Invite.
