TUSCALOOSA, Ala. \u2013 With meets that included the United States Olympic Team Trials, the U.S. Open and the Rio Olympics, Alabama swimmers and divers had a very busy summer.<\/p>\n
Things haven\u2019t slowed down with the start of classes, practices and the 2016-17 season. Just four weeks after the school year got underway, head coach Dennis Pursley<\/strong>\u2019s teams once again are taking part in the first dual meet of the collegiate season this Friday at 4 p.m. in the Alabama Aquatic Center against Delta State.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I like having a meet early on,\u201d Pursley said. \u201cIt gives everyone involved an idea of exactly where we are and gives the coaching staff some great feedback for the early portion of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n The Crimson Tide returns 13 All-Americans from last year\u2019s squads that finished sixth nationally on the men\u2019s side and 28th on the women\u2019s side. The Tide also returns NCAA Champions Pavel Romanov<\/strong>, Luke Kaliszak<\/strong> and Connor Oslin<\/strong> as well as 2016 Olympians Christopher Reid<\/strong>, Jack Hadjiconstantinou<\/strong> and Anton McKee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The women\u2019s team is without All-American Emma Saunders<\/strong> while the men lost NCAA champion and All-American Kristian Gkolomeev<\/strong> as well as All-Americans Brett Walsh<\/strong> and Crews Wellford<\/strong>, all of which finished their eligibility last season.<\/p>\n Looking to step up and find a place in the Tide\u2019s lineup are 12 freshmen, six men and six women, who are all slated to see action on Friday. The Tide also has a newcomer on deck when it comes to Alabama\u2019s diving coach. Chuck Wade<\/strong> is in his first season with Alabama swimming and diving, replacing 29-year veteran Pat Greenwell<\/strong>, who retired over the summer.<\/p>\n For the Tide\u2019s veterans, Delta State is a familiar foe, especially in season-opening action. The two teams have battled it out the first meet of the collegiate season each of the last three years.<\/p>\n Admission is free to Friday\u2019s meet and giveaways include pizza, Alabama swim caps and schedule posters.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The University of Alabama contributed this report.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TUSCALOOSA, Ala. \u2013 With meets that included the United States Olympic Team Trials, the U.S. Open and the Rio Olympics, Alabama swimmers and divers had a very busy summer. Things<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":109750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[544,58448],"class_list":["post-220577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college","tag-alabama","tag-delta-state"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n