re: UA Volleyball, Soccer, Track, Tennis, Swim/Diving, Rowing

Alabama Rowing Heads West for Challenging Slate at Pac-12 Invitational

No. 19 Alabama rowing heads west this weekend for the Pac-12 Invitational, with two days of racing against a slew of ranked teams on Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nev., beginning Saturday morning.

The Crimson Tide will send a pair of 8 boats and two 4 boats to compete this weekend, each facing off against No. 3 Cal, No. 18 Oregon State, and UCLA on Saturday. The Second Varsity 4 will open Sunday racing against the Beavers, Bruins and fourth-ranked Stanford before the remaining crews square off against No. 8 Washington, No. 12 USC and Washington State.

The Pac-12 Invitational will be live streamed on the Lake Las Vegas Rowing Club's Facebook page.

Schedule
Saturday vs. #3 Cal, #18 Oregon State, UCLA
10 a.m. CT – 2V4+
11 a.m. CT – 1V4+
12 p.m. CT – 2V8+
1 p.m. CT – 1V8+

Sunday
10 a.m. CT – 2V4+ vs. #4 Stanford, #18 Oregon State, UCLA
11:20 a.m. CT – 1V4+ vs. #8 Washington, #12 USC, Washington State
12:20 p.m. CT – 2V8+ vs. #8 Washington, #12 USC, Washington State
1:20 p.m. CT – 1V8+ vs. #8 Washington, #12 USC, Washington State

Alabama Track and Field Earns a Pair of Wins to Open Joe Walker Invitational

Bobby Colantonio Jr. won the men’s hammer while Hailey Poole took top honors in the women’s javelin to open competition in Oxford

Alabama track and field opened competition at the Joe Walker Invitational in Oxford, Miss., Friday with a pair of wins, along with a trio of marks that stand among the Crimson Tide's all-time 10 in their respective events.

Bobby Colantonio Jr., who closed the 2022 indoor season with the NCAA weight throw title, opened his outdoor slate with a career-best toss of 70.04 meters on the way to winning the men's hammer throw. Kieran McKeag took second in the hammer with a throw 69.15 meters, the second-best toss of his career. Colantonio Jr. and McKeag are now ranked third and fourth, respectively, all-time at UA in the hammer.

Alabama also went 1-2 in the women's javelin, with Hailey Poole getting the win with a career-best 47.05, which ranks her eighth all-time for the Tide, while Samantha Zelden was second with a 46.55 meters.

Tough tough season for Bama Men’s Tennis. Kinda wonder if Byrne will make a change here. Happy Patrick was able to go out on a good note.

Kaukovalta Clinches Win Against UAB, Alabama Falls to No. 9 South Carolina

In his final match at the Alabama Tennis Stadium, senior Patrick Kaukovalta rallied to take a 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3 decision and break a 3-3 tie with UAB in the Crimson Tide's second match on Sunday. Alabama (8-18, 0-10 SEC) would split the day, falling 7-0 to No. 9 South Carolina (20-5, 9-2 SEC), before its 4-3 victory over UAB (7-13) concluded its final home match of the season.

After splitting the opening two sets, 5-7, 7-6 (3), Kaukovalta found himself trailing UAB's Roman Postolka 3-0 in the final set and match of the night. The Crimson Tide senior would take the next six games to secure the win and clinch the team victory with a 6-3 third-set score.

Rowing team struggled against west coast competition this past weekend

Alabama Rowing Wraps up Weekend at Pac-12 Invitational

Sunday Results
2V4+ vs. #4 Stanford, #18 Oregon State, UCLA - Scratched
1V4 vs. #8 Washington, #12 USC, Washington State – 4th (8:03.13)
2V8+ vs. #8 Washington, #12 USC, Washington State – 4th (7:46.32)
1V8+ vs. #8 Washington, #12 USC, Washington State – 4th (7:14.60)

Saturday Results
vs. #3 Cal, #18 Oregon State, UCLA
2V4+ - 3rd (7:36.12)
1V4+ - 4th (7:33.02)
2V8+ - 3rd (6:35.88)
1V8+ - 4th (6:42.25)

Swim Nerd podcast interview with Margo Geer. Nice long interview (1 hr) - worth a listen. Hopefully Moar will find time and give his thoughts. She addresses alumni engagement in about the last 5 mins of the interview.

Interview with Alabama Head Coach Margo Geer

Alabama Athletics Duo Named SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Finalists

Alabama's Polly Mack (women's golf) and Tyler Sesvold (men's swimming and diving) have been named finalists for the Southeastern Conference Men's and Women's Scholar-Athletes of the Year and the H. Boyd McWhorter Postgraduate Scholarships, the league office announced Monday.

The H. Boyd McWhorter Postgraduate Scholarship has been presented by the SEC to the league's top male and female scholar-athletes since 1986 and this year's winners will be named on May 3.

The SEC provides the league's male and female McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year Post-Graduate Scholarship recipients with a $20,000 post-graduate scholarship. The 26 remaining male and female finalists for the award will also receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship. The award recipients are chosen by a committee of Faculty Athletics Representatives from the 14 SEC institutions and are announced in May, as well as honored by the league membership at SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Fla.

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Alabama Swimming & Diving Earns SEC Yearly and All-Conference Honors

Morgan Scott was named the SEC Female Swimmer of the Year and Mohammed Farouk was tabbed as the SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year by a vote of the league’s coaches

Alabama's Morgan Scott was voted the Southeastern Conference Female Swimmer of the Year, while Mohamed Farouk was tabbed the SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year, the league office announced Wednesday.

Scott led the Crimson Tide women to the highest national finish in program history, a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, while earning seven All-America honors. She also won six SEC Championships in seven swims at the 2022 SEC Championships.

Farouk qualified to the NCAA Championships in all three diving events and finaled off the 1-meter springboard and the platform at the SEC Championships, standing as the highest finishing freshman in both events.

This year's accolades mark the second year in a row that Alabama has earned SEC Female Swimmer of the Year recognition, following Rhyan White in 2021. It is also the second time in three years that a Crimson Tide diver has been named freshman of the year, with Tanesha Lucoe earning the women's distinction in 2020.

The conference office also released its All-SEC lists on Wednesday, with the Crimson Tide ranking third with 18 overall honors, first in women's first-team accolades with eight and second in combined men's and women's first-team honors with nine.

Kalia Antoniou, Cora Dupre, Tanesha Lucoe, Derek Maas, Diana Petkova, Scott, White, Avery Wiseman and Kailyn Winter all earned First Team All-SEC recognition. Kaique Alves, Jonathan Berneburg, Kensey McMahon, Matthew Menke and Tyler Sesvold were named to the second team.

Kaique Alves, Charlie Hawke, Linus Kahl and Wiseman all earned a place on the SEC All-Freshman Team.

So turns out this wasn't the group of interviews I thought it would be. The interviewer was former Auburn great, and extra mediocre Auburn coach Brett Hawke. First I want to express how much more tolerable he is than Rowdy Like I listened to another 70 minute interview he did with former Bama coach Jonty Skinner afterwards, and it was great. I hate my coaching situation so much more after listening to that interview.

There weren't a lot of revealing things in her hour long interview. The thing that stands out the most is how green she is. An incredible amount of "ums," but she's 30 and not used to these things, yet. I think she'd feel more comfortable talking about the aspects of racing/training more than she was about the broad strokes they did this time. Plus you're a green coach talking to a legend/former coach from what is now a rival for her, and he's being a little over the top in his praise for basically repeating what we did last year.

They definitely discussed lack of in state talent, and even if we had it, we're behind the 8ball with lack of lottery scholarships to entice in state kids. Totally a real thing, and it affects the men a little more with the 9.9 vs 14 scholarships discrepancy. Apparently Margo isn't hip to our party school ranking, because she said we lacked night life of some other schools She also briefly discussed our reliance on foreign swimmers, which has been a thing for decades... and certainly not exclusive to just us.

We just aren't pulling high ranked recruits right now. The men's top recruit is in the 120 range. As someone whose best friend was a black guy who swam at Harvard... our top recruit coming in next season is a black kid from fricking Kansas The women have 2 in the 120 range, and 1 at 99th. I always compare to teams my friends swam for.. VTech women were 23rd overall this year, bringing in #23 and 72. Their men have #20, 25, and 33, and were 4 places above us. It's hard to see that we're remotely sustainable results wise right now. Hopefully a semblance of stability in the coaching will allow us to bring in more talent, and I can't be too upset with her for where she had to step in. Just hoping the 2023 class will show major improvement. shite, maybe we'll snag someone in the portal. Maybe some of these freshman are just starting to see serious year round training for the first time in their life i hate that i come off as judgemental on recruits because times are extremely definitive measurements, but training backgrounds are a huge wildcard.


I definitely hope Margo does a follow up with Brett. I'd really like to hear more on her takes on training and getting folks ready to race, but this interview was a great introduction to her. Regardless of her philosophy, we need recruits... and that normally gets easier with a track record of results. Starting strong, but next 2 years will really determine where the team is heading.

And seriously, I can't really get over how damn interesting Jonty seemed. I've only met him in person once, and it was before a meet vs UF. Super brief courtesy introduction, not trying to infringe on him doing his job that night. It's great to hear Margo stays in contact with the OG coach, Don Gambrill. I know I've seen his wife posting pics of him taking the grandkids to meets.



Oh yeah, we got a new diving coach today. Beau Bunn, was previously at UNC Wilmington. I have a buddy who swam at uncw when he was there competing as an athlete, but haven't taken the time to reach out to him yet. News is still pretty fresh.

Awesome to have some behind the scenes insight into these teams and athletes. Maybe this was the interview you originally had in mind? (Posted on Swimswam but by Champions Mojo)

LINK