02Ala Swim MG.qxd - University of Alabama
02Ala Swim MG.qxd - University of Alabama
02Ala Swim MG.qxd - University of Alabama
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56<br />
THIS IS BAMA SWIMMING & DIVING THE STAFF THE TEAM THE OPPONENTS THE HISTORY<br />
<strong>Alabama</strong> in the SEC<br />
WWW.ROLLTIDE.COM<br />
The<br />
Southeastern<br />
Conference<br />
<strong>Swim</strong>ming<br />
& Diving<br />
The Southeastern Conference has long been one <strong>of</strong> the nation’s<br />
premiere athletic conferences both in overall strength and in<br />
nearly every sport individually. <strong>Swim</strong>ming and diving is certainly<br />
no exception. The SEC has placed at least one team in the top-10<br />
<strong>of</strong> the NCAA Championships every year since 1969 when<br />
Florida placed ninth. The conference’s high water mark for<br />
team’s in the top-10 at the NCAA Championships came in 1978,<br />
1979 and 1994. Each <strong>of</strong> those year’s the conference had four<br />
teams place in the final 10. In 2001 there were seven conference<br />
schools in the top-20 and last season there where six.<br />
Five times in the history <strong>of</strong> the NCAA Championships has a<br />
conference team come away with the team title. Tennessee won<br />
the first in 1978. Florida won back-to-back titles in 1983 and<br />
1984. In 1997 and 1999 Auburn came away with the crown.<br />
<strong>Alabama</strong>, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee have all finished in the<br />
runner-up position at the NCAA Championships.<br />
Individually, sprinting is the conference’s forte as SEC athletes<br />
have won the 50 freestyle 11 times and the 100 freestyle<br />
NCAA title 11 times. Georgia’s Reid Patterson won the first<br />
national title, taking the 100 freestyle in 1953. If sprinting is the<br />
conference’s forte, <strong>Alabama</strong>’s addition to the conference’s legacy<br />
is the mile, twice <strong>Alabama</strong> swimmers have won the mile, the<br />
only conference athletes to do so. In 1977, <strong>Alabama</strong>’s Casey<br />
Converse set an NCAA and American record on the way to the<br />
title, becoming the first swimmer in history to swim under 15<br />
minutes in the mile.<br />
All told, the SEC owns more than 70 individual NCAA titles<br />
and 25-plus relay titles.<br />
Currently the SEC holds eight NCAA records. Including five<br />
individual titles and three relay marks.<br />
ALABAMA IN THE SEC<br />
<strong>Alabama</strong> has won two Southeastern Conference team titles<br />
since swimming was introduced at the Capstone in 1960. The first<br />
in 1982 and the second in 1987. The Crimson Tide has been in<br />
the runner-up position a total <strong>of</strong> 11 times, first in 1963 and the<br />
last in 1985.<br />
Individually, <strong>Alabama</strong> has 83 SEC titles, the first coming in<br />
1962 when John Rangley won the 50 free. The last came last season<br />
when current sophomore Stefan Gherghel won the 200 butterfly.<br />
Three Tide swimmers are tied for the most individual SEC<br />
titles by an <strong>Alabama</strong> athlete in a career. Jonty Skinner, Gregg<br />
Higginson and Jon Olsen all claimed five championships during<br />
their tenures.<br />
The Tide also lays claim to 10 relay titles. In 1964, the 400<br />
freestyle relay <strong>of</strong> Peck, Putman, Horn and Bretheron won the<br />
<strong>Alabama</strong>’s first conference title in time <strong>of</strong> 3:25.0. <strong>Alabama</strong> came<br />
up with relay win number 10 in 1994 when Dustin McDaniels,<br />
Travis Myers, Russell McDowell and Stavros Michaelides combined<br />
to win the 200 medley relay. First Team All-SEC honorees<br />
number 56 on the Tide's all-time roster.<br />
In the classroom, <strong>Alabama</strong> swimmers have earned Academic<br />
All-SEC honors 57 times since the award’s inception in 1984. The<br />
Crimson Tide had a program high eight athletes named to the<br />
squad in 1995.<br />
SEC <strong>Swim</strong>mer <strong>of</strong> the Year<br />
1975 Casey Converse<br />
1982 Arne Borgstrom<br />
SEC Diver <strong>of</strong> the Year<br />
1981 Wayne Chester<br />
1982 Craig Ford<br />
1984 Mike Marmann<br />
1987 Perry White<br />
1990 Ed Morse<br />
1991 Mark Rourke<br />
1995 Rafael Alvarez<br />
1997 Brent Roberts<br />
1998 Brent Roberts<br />
SEC Champions and<br />
<strong>Alabama</strong>’s finishes<br />
60's UA<br />
1960 Florida 6th<br />
1961 Florida 4th<br />
1962 Florida 4th<br />
1963 Florida 2nd<br />
1964 Florida 2nd<br />
1965 Florida 2nd<br />
1966 Florida 2nd<br />
1967 Florida 3rd<br />
1968 Florida 3rd<br />
1969 Tennessee 3rd<br />
70's UA<br />
1970 Florida 3rd<br />
1971 Florida 3rd<br />
1972 Tennessee 3rd<br />
1973 Tennessee 3rd<br />
1974 Tennessee 4th<br />
1975 Tennessee 2nd<br />
1976 Tennessee 2nd<br />
1977 Tennessee 2nd<br />
1978 Tennessee 4th<br />
1979 Florida 4th<br />
SEC Coach <strong>of</strong> the Year<br />
1981 Don Gambril<br />
1982 Don Gambril<br />
1987 Don Gambril<br />
SEC Diving<br />
Coach <strong>of</strong> the Year<br />
1981 Bob Webster<br />
1982 Bob Webster<br />
1984 Bob Webster<br />
1986 Mike Finneran<br />
1987 Mike Finneran<br />
1990 Pat Greenwell<br />
1991 Pat Greenwell<br />
1995 Pat Greenwell<br />
1997 Pat Greenwell<br />
80's UA<br />
1980 Florida 4th<br />
1981 Florida 2nd<br />
1982 <strong>Alabama</strong> 1st<br />
1983 Florida 2nd<br />
1984 Florida 2nd<br />
1985 Florida 2nd<br />
1986 Florida 3rd<br />
1987 <strong>Alabama</strong> 1st<br />
1988 LSU 5th<br />
1989 Tennessee 3rd<br />
90's UA<br />
1990 Florida 3rd<br />
1991 Florida 3rd<br />
1992 Florida 3rd<br />
1993 Florida 5th<br />
1994 Auburn 4th<br />
1995 Auburn 5th<br />
1996 Tennessee 6th<br />
1997 Auburn 6th<br />
1998 Auburn 6th<br />
1999 Auburn 6th<br />
00's UA<br />
2000 Auburn 6th<br />
2001 Auburn 7th<br />
2002 Auburn 5th
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