Press Release courtesy of Alabama Athletics
Alabama swimming and diving takes to the road for its first dual meet of 2018 this Friday when it will face the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee at 11 a.m. CT.
“FSU is putting together a real strong program and it’s going to be a challenge for us,” UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. “On paper it’s about dead even, and they have the home-pool advantage. We’re also going to be competing outdoors in 60-degree weather, so that will be interesting for our kids, but we’re looking forward to it.”
While the Crimson Tide divers have competed in a pair of invitationals between the fall and spring semester, Friday’s meet will be the first time the entire team has competed together since the Georgia Tech Invitational in November.
“This will be our first time to get up and race someone other than ourselves since November, so it will be good to get out there and see how we weathered this break and where we are as we enter the home stretch of the season,” Pursley said.
The Tide is coming off a pair of training camps that took place between the semesters, including a week-long camp in Boca Raton, Fla., before the Christmas holiday and one in Tuscaloosa following the team’s return to campus.
“Our camps went really well,” Pursley said. “The weather cooperated, it was perfect down in Boca and we were able to get done everything we wanted to and when we came back from the break for Christmas, we seemed to pick up right where left off, so we feel good about where we are now.”
While the Tide hasn’t competed in an invitational or dual meet since November, the Seminoles swam against in-state rival Florida last Friday in Gainesville. This Friday will be their first home meet of 2018.
The Tide men are led by senior Luke Kaliszak and juniors Robert Howard and Laurent Bams, who are all ranked in the top-10 nationally. The women are led by junior Justine Macfarlane and freshman Flora Molnar, who are both ranked in the top-25 nationally.
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