By outreach@cw.ua.edu (Cody Estremera)

The University of Alabama is no stranger to winning championships in Atlanta, Georgia and on Friday, the Alabama men’s swimming and diving team captured their first NCAA 200 medley relay title at Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center.

Kristian Gkolomeev’s completed his 50 meters in 18:00 seconds, a new school record, to help secure the victory over California and Texas for his partners, Connor Oslin and Pavel Romanov, both juniors, and sophomore Luke Kaliszak. As a group, they finished 1:22.28, just a hundredth of a second from an NCAA record but good enough to set a program record.

“When you have Kristian Gkolomeev anchoring, you can come back from just about anything,” Oslin said.

Going into the final day on the championships, the Crimson Tide’s 143 points has them in seventh place.

This wasn’t the first relay Alabama had success in this week. On Wednesday the Crimson Tide 800-meter relay team made up of sophomore Christopher Reid, junior Alex Gray, sophomore Matthew Adams and senior Crews Wellford, set a school record in the relay. The team beat the previous record by more than two and a half seconds with an official time of 6:20:09.

This was the first time in a decade since the Crimson Tide has scored points in that relay at the NCAA meet. Reid also set a career-best with his time in the first leg of the relay. He is now third all-time at Alabama with his new time in the 200-meter freestyle.

“That was a good start for us,” Coach Dennis Pursley said. “We set a school record and everyone on that relay posted their fastest splits. We’re seeded higher in the shorter relays, but to come in and score in that first relay with a school record, hopefully that bodes well.”

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Source:: The Crimson White Sports