Alabama Swimming and Diving Opens Season Friday at LSU

Courtesy: Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama swimming and diving team usually opens its competitive season in September or early October, but this is 2020-21 and things are bound to be different. With that in mind, instead of kicking things off more than a month ago with its usual opening opponent, Delta State, the Crimson Tide is heading to Baton Rouge, La., to take on the LSU Tigers this Friday at 4 p.m. CT.

In addition to the more than 35 Tide veterans making the trip, a dozen newcomers are slated to travel this weekend with the chance to make their Alabama debut.

Head Coach Coley Stickles Said
“Everyone knows that this is going to be a very different year. In years past we would have already had at least one meet under our belt at this point and would be in a different place training wise. So, this weekend, instead of fine-tuning things and seeing where we are in terms of training, we’re getting a first look at our rookies in a dual-meet setting and we’re giving our veterans a chance to knock some rust off when it comes to competition. We’re working hard to get to where we need to be, and this is another step in that process.” 

Keeping Up with the Tide

• Live swimming results for the Alabama meet at LSU meet will be available via the Meet Mobile app
• Live diving results for Friday’s meet will be available here
• Friday’s meet will not be streamed

Rookies

• There are eight men and four women among the 12 rookies who could make their Alabama debut this weekend
• Of the 12 newcomers, two are transfers, Cora Dupre and Jake Marcum, who both spent their freshman season at Indiana in 2019-20
• Three true freshmen are making the trip to Baton Rouge for the women, including Gracie Felner, Isabella Matesa and Maddie Mechling
• There are seven true freshmen on this week’s travel squad for the men – Matt King, Christopher O’Connor, Blake Peeples, Kacper Piotrowski, Trey Sheils, Eric Stelmar and Joey Wachter

Up Next

• After Friday’s meet, Alabama remains on the road, traveling to Knoxville, Tenn., to face off against both Tennessee and Virginia Nov. 19-21

For all the latest information on the Alabama swimming and diving teams, follow AlabamaSwimDive on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.