Alabama Finishes Perfect Weekend, Downing Delta State and Louisiana-Monroe

CLEVELAND, Miss., November 1. ALABAMA Swimming and Diving men and women’s teams swept past Delta State and Louisiana-Monroe in a double-dual meet Saturday (Oct. 30) to stay perfect on the young season.

The Tide reported their women beat home standing Delta State 118-22 and Louisiana-Monroe 114-19. After dominating LSU and Arkansas Friday to open the season, the women are now 4-0-0. The Tide men beat DSU 104-36 and Louisiana-Monroe 99-51. After beating LSU on Friday, the men go to 3-0-0.

“We had a good opening weekend,” head coach Eric McIlquham said. “We dominated our opponents and posted some great times. We broke pool records at both meets and swam our races. So now we head back to Tuscaloosa and get ready for Kentucky in Lexington in two weeks time.”

Against LSU, two-time Olympic finalist, sophomore Vlad Polyakov shattered the LSU Natatorium 100 breaststroke record with a lightning swim of 53.63, breaking Jarrod Marrs mark of 54.62 set in 1999.

Olympic Bronze Medalist Anne Poleska, a senior, broke the LSU Natatorium 200 breaststroke record with a 2:10.64 in breaking the mark of 2:13.64, previously owned by Georgia's Ashley Roby set in 2001. Poleska broke the 100 and 200 breaststroke records at the Delta State Aquatic Center. She broke her own 2002 200 record with a 2:14.30 and former Tide standout Candace Weiman’s 100 record, set in 2002, with a 1:03.92. Senior Arlene Semeco broke her own pool record in the 50 freestyle set last season with a 23.23.

Sophomore Tara Theilemann got the women started with a win the 1000 freestyle while sophomore Melina Bassino won the 200 freestyle. Semeco won the 50 freestyle while junior Anna Grant took top honors in the 100 freestyle. Junior All-American Kathryn Hallquist won the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly.

Poleska, fresh off a three-win performance on Friday, added two more, winning the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. Sophomore Victoria Genova won the 200 butterfly and 400 IM while sophomore Becca Rogers notched a win in the 200 backstroke.

Freshman Ryan Latone won the 1000 freestyle to get the men off to a strong start. J.T. Jones took first in the 200 and 500 freestyles. Senior All-American Franck Southon won the 100 and 200 backstrokes while newcomer Hunor Mate’ notched the first and second wins of his Crimson Tide career, taking top honors in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes.

Sophomore All-American Darren Erasmus won the 50 freestyle. Junior All-American Aaron Ashworth won the one and three-meter diving events. Sophomore Tim Hansen rounded out the Tide’s individual winning spree with a 400 IM victory.

In addition to the individual victories, Alabama’s men and women won all four relays.

After two meets in two days, Alabama stays on the road with at Nov. 13 contest with Kentucky.

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