TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama swimming and diving teams dive back into action at home this Friday andSaturday against Southeastern Conference rival Tennessee. The meet will be something of a rarity, split across two days and competed over a 50-meter course instead of 25-yards, which is the standard in the collegiate ranks.
Friday’s competition begins at 4 p.m. CT in the Alabama Aquatic Center while Saturday will get underway at 10 a.m. CT. Admission to both days is free.
Swimming the meet over the 50-meter course is, in part, a nod to this being an Olympic year and the fact that many of the NCAA’s top swimmers are preparing not only for the conference and NCAA championships, but a shot at competing in Rio as well.
“This will be a different challenge, a different opportunity, swimming long course,” Pursley said. “Some swimmers are better long course and some are better short course, which is what we compete at the collegiate level. But this being the Olympic year and with a lot of the top NCAA teams, ourselves included, having Olympic hopefuls on their rosters, a lot of the top teams scheduled a long course meet.”
The Crimson Tide is also in the midst of its most demanding training of the season and is putting the final touches on its high volume work after a week-long training camp in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., following final exams last month and a post-Christmas training camp here in Tuscaloosa.
“At some point each season, we like to go above and beyond in training, get out of the box and find some new limits,” Pursley said. “I think we did a good job with that this time around. As you would hope, each season that we’ve been here the program – in a training sense – has progressed, getting a little better each year.
Both Alabama and Tennessee will be racing following a tough sequence of practices and will have to fight through the fatigue that comes with that kind of training.
“Tennessee is a little bit the reverse of where we are in that they’re strengths are in the distance events and ours are more in the sprint events, so I think the best races are going to be in the middle distances,” Pursley said.
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Swimming news courtesy of Alabama Swimming & Diving.