Tide Swimming Ends Home Season

The Alabama swimming and diving team faces off against Southeastern Conference foes Georgia and South Carolina this Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Alabama Aquatic Center. It is Alabama’s last home meet of the regular season and Crimson Tide seniors will be recognized before the start of the competition.

Saturday is Alabama’s Power of Pink meet, which honors breast cancer survivors and promotes breast cancer awareness. The women’s team will be wearing pink suits in honor of the department-wide initiative which is sponsored by Tuscaloosa Toyota.

Saturday is also Senior Day for the Tide, which will honor Anestis Arampatzis, John Ellis, Jenna Gallo, Hillary Hahmann, Peter Hillyer, Brandon Lowe, Jake Reynolds, and Reese Shirey during a pre-meet ceremony.

The Tide has had two weeks since its last meet to prepare for its Alabama Aquatic Center finale, and Coach Dennis Pursley anticipates improvement.

“Since the Missouri meet, we’ve begun to very slowly and gradually reduce the workload, what we call the process of tapering, for the championship competition,” Pursley said. “We’re not going to see the breakthrough performances that we hope to see next month, but we’re hoping to see a couple of early indications of what to expect.”

As the Tide prepares to enter the championship portion of the season, Saturday’s meet will give those athletes who are on the bubble when it comes to making the conference team a chance to solidify their standing. Pursley admits that setting the championship roster entails “some of the toughest decision I’ll have to make as head coach every year.”

Included in the festivities that go along with Senior Day and the Tide’s Power of Pink initiative, the UA pep band and cheerleaders will also be at the meet. Pursley anticipates “a little bit more charged, exciting, and fun environment” for both the student-athletes and the fans.

The Senior Day ceremony is slated to start just after 10:30 a.m. and the meet will start at 11 a.m. Admission is free.