Alabama Rolls Over South Carolina in Halloween Dual Meet

11-01-14 MWSD vs. Auburn and LSU Kristian Gkolomeev Men 50 Yard Freestyle Photo by Kelly Price

Photo Courtesy: Kelly Price/Alabama Athletics

The Alabama men and women rolled over South Carolina today during their Halloween meet. The men won 166-132, while the women won 191.5-108.5.

Alabama Press Release:

The Alabama men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams won a Halloween meet in Columbia, S.C. Saturday in the Carolina Natatorium.

The Crimson Tide women beat the Gamecocks 191.5-108.5 to go to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in Southeastern Conference competition while the Alabama meet won out over South Carolina, 166-132, to go to 2-1, 1-1 in the SEC. The Tide swept both the 400 medley and freestyle relays and won 17 individual events.

Freshman Katie Kelsoe and senior Emma Saunders led the way for the Tide women, swimming on winning relays as well as notching a pair of individual wins each. Kelsoe led off the winning 400 medley relay as well as taking first in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, touching the wall at 55.93 and 2:01.97, respectively. Saunders anchored the winning 400 freestyle relay and won the 100 and 200 freestyles, with times of 51.26 and 1:50.36, respectively.

Kelsoe, junior Bridget Blood along with sophomores Hannah Musser and Temarie Tomley combined to post a 3:45.68 to win the 400 medley relay. Sophomore Paige Matherson swept the distance freestyle events, winning the 1,000 with a 10:17.93 and the 500 with a 4:59.69.

Blood won the 100 breatstroke with a 1:03.74 while senior Stephanie Klotz took top honors in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:17.64. Sophomore Mia Nonnenberg won the 200 butterfly with a 1:59.61 and the 200 individual medley with a 2:02.76. Musser took top honors in the 100 butterfly with a 54.87.

Junior Connor Oslin paced the men, leading off the winning 400 medley relay as well as taking top honors in the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 100 butterfly. He won the 100 backstroke in 47.57, the 200 backstroke with a 1:47.26 and the 100 butterfly after touching the wall at 48.59.

Oslin, junior Pavel Romanov, senior Abbas Qali and junior Alex Gray combined to win the 400 medley relay to open the meet with a 3:15.70.

Sophomore Will Freeman won the 200 butterfly with a 1:50.06. Junior Kristian Gkolomeev won the 50 freestyle with a 20.19 and junior Anton McKee won the 200 breaststroke with a 2:00.43.

The Tide closed out the meet with wins in the 400 freestyle relays. Musser, Tomley, sophomore Lindsay Morrow and Saunders posted a 3:34.40 to win the women’s race while senior Crews Wellford, freshman Robert Howard, Gray and Gkolomeev combined for a 3:01.56 to win the men’s race.

The Tide returns to action Nov. 19-21 in Atlanta, Ga., at the Georgia Tech Invitational.

South Carolina Press Release:

The South Carolina swimming and diving program opened SEC competition Saturday morning, hosting Alabama’s men and women. The Crimson Tide, who entered the day ranked 10th for the men and 24th for the women, won both duals. The final men’s score was 166-132, and the women’s score was 191.5-108.5.

The women started the day out with a clean sweep of the top three in the one-meter dive. Julia Vincent edged out teammate Marissa Roth for the win, with a score of 297.60. Roth (288.07) and Allyson Neid (278.62) would set new season bests to take the final two spots, respectively. Jordan Gotro won the event on the men’s side with a final tally of 322.42, and Lyle Markman placed third at 231.60.

Alabama swept the 400 medley relay to open the swim portion, but Carolina packed in the scorers with the 1000 free. For the women it would be a 2-3-4 showing, with Sarah Smith touching first for the home team at 10:20.03. Cody Bekemeyer and Tomas Peribonio finished first and second, respectively, to drive the men’s comeback from a slight early deficit. Bekemeyer set a new best in the race, touching in 9:09.51.

On the back of Akaram Mahmoud, the Gamecock men would take a slight lead after the 200 free. The sophomore would set a new personal best with a time of 1:38.73, and closed an early gap to hold off Alabama’s Crews Wellford by just .18 seconds. The Tide appeared to pull away after taking the top three in the 100 backstroke, but another 1-2 finish for Carolina cut into the margin. Nils Wich-Glasen (54.85) and Kevin Leithold (55.08) scored big with the top two spots, and Leithold picked up an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time in the process.

To close out the first eight events before the diving break, the Gamecocks raced the 50 free. For the women, Taylor Vincent won a dramatic race with Alabama’s Lindsay Morrow, touching in 23.98 to Morrow’s 23.99. Alabama’s men swept the top three spots in its 50, taking an 86-63 lead into the break.

Back on the boards, Carolina’s women dominated at the three-meter height as well and claimed the top four spots. It would be Lauren Lamendola getting the win for the Gamecocks, scoring 307.80. She was followed by Roth (304.72) in second and Vincent (287.55) in third.

Leithold got thing started back up with a bang after notching a win in the 100 free out of the break, getting the touch in .19 seconds before Alabama’s Kristian Gkolomeev. Two races later, Carolina would again cut into the deficit after Mahmoud won his second event of the day in the 500 free. He beat out his teammate Peribonio for the win, almost six seconds ahead of Alabama’s top finisher.

The Crimson Tide remained ahead on both the men’s and women’s side, but the Gamecocks had a chance to make up more ground heading into the men’s chance at the three-meter dive. Gotro would sweep the day, coming through with a tight win. He trailed heading into his final attempt, and needed a 6.7 to erase the deficit. He would do just that, winning with a score of 390.75 to edge out Alabama’s Brent Sagert (389.77).

The meet wrapped up with the 200 individual medley and 400 freestyle relay. Emma Barksdale took second in the women’s 200 IM with a new personal best of 2:06.01. For the men, Wich-Glasen picked up his second win of the day in the 200 IM, and was followed immediately by Peribonio. The Tide would win the 400 free relay on both sides to close out the meet.

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