Lady Vols, Bama Men Champs Of Two-Day Dual Meet

The second of a two-day dual meet between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers resumed today at the Alabama Aquatic Center in Tuscaloosa, AL. After yesterday’s competition, the visiting Tennesseans had full control over the long course meter duel.

Saturday’s clash of the Southeastern Conference rivals began with another series of 50’s. Escorted by Kira Toussaint’s touch of 30.39, the Lady Vols secured the 50m back’s top-four while Bama’s Christopher Reid punched in a 26.80 for the men’s top spot. Bridget Blood amassed another breaststroke title in the 50m breast at 33.86 and after being reduced to second in yesterday’s 100m breast, Pavel Romanov bested his heat at 28.33.

Harper Bruens and Johnson repeated their one-two finish from the 50m free by clearing the women’s 100m free in 57.87 and 58.03. The 2015 NCAA champion in the yards edition, Kristian Gkolomeev rocketed the men’s 100m free in 51.03 over Kyle Decoursey (51.33) and teammate Robert Howard (52.01).

The Crimson Tide exercised full authority over their visitors in the 200m back and breast. Emma Saunders (2:20.75) and Reid (2:04.37) each led a one-two finish in the backstroke as Blood (2:40.39) and Anton Mckee (2:19.00) accumulated more points for their alma mater in the breaststroke.

Switching to the springboard, Rachel Rubadue dove for another victory in the 3-meter competition with a score of 295.25 from the Georgia Diving Invite while her Tennessee teammate Mauricio Robles posted a tally of 404.60 for the men’s highest scoring dive.

After she dominated the 800m free earlier in the session with a time of 9:04.28, Maddy Tegner swam her way to another distance title in the 400m free at 4:22.42 for the first of three Lady Vol finishes. For the men, Ben Miller’s 4:03.27 was quick enough to rebuff Brian Westlake’s 4:04.80 and Tennessee teammate Hayden Burns’ 4:05.04.

Bruens seized another event title in the 100m fly at 1:02.39 as her Vol teammate Tyler Mills collected his first individual win at 55.50 over Bama senior Brett Walsh (55.99). Mia Nonnenberg’s 2:20.10 and Sam McHugh’s 2:05.94 in the 200m IM marked the last individual wins for subsequently both Alabama and Tennessee.

The Lady Vol squad of Toussaint, Bruens, Micah Bohon, and Johnson surpassed Alabama’s 400m free relay by over two seconds with a final time of 3:49.43 to 3:51.73. Of note, Toussaint’s lead split of 56.99 would have taken the 100m free crown from her teammate Bruens and was just half a second shy from an Olympic Trials standard. In one last showdown between the Crimson Tide and the Volunteers, the 400m free relay of Alex Gray, Crews Wellford, Howard, and Gkolomeev blasted a 3:25.30 while their B-relay out touched Tennessee’s A-relay 3:29.56 to 3:29.79.

In conclusion, the sprinting capabilities and depth of the Crimson Tide men were enough to defeat the visiting team 164.5 – 154.5 and try as they might, the women hosts fell to the might of the Lady Vols 199 – 120.