Meet of the Week Recap: No. 3 Auburn Women Handle No. 12 Texas, 140-91

By Jason Marsteller

AUBURN, Alabama, January 11. THE No. 3 Auburn women proved just why they are ranked so high with a 140-91 domination of No. 12 Texas in Auburn, Ala. The meeting is the first between the two programs. Overall, the Tigers won nine out of 13 events while posting the top effort in two other events in non-scoring affairs. Additionally, the meet witnessed four automatic qualifying times and 16 provisional efforts in a fast mid-season performance.

"We were pretty solid today," said Auburn women's co-head coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker. "The people that have done a nice job the last month or so, it's really starting to pay off for them. There are still some others that need to improve in the next month or so, and I think they will. But top to bottom, we were very solid."

Adrienne Binder and Emily Kukors led the Tigers with a pair of triumphs each. Binder dominated the distance events with the top time in the nation in the 1650 free and B-cut effort in the 500 free. Meanwhile, Kukors clocked the third-fastest time in the country in the 200 free before posting a B-cut effort in the 100 free.

Mary Yarrison and Leah Avilla led the Longhorns with individual wins. Yarrison grabbed the one-meter diving title, and picked up a technical win in the three-meter since Auburn's Corey Gerlach exhibitioned. Avilla took home the 200 breast for Texas.

400-yard medley relay
Auburn stepped out to a 13-4 lead in the 400-yard medley relay. The quartet of Rachel Goh, Julie Stupp, Ava Ohlgren and Emily Kukors posted a B-cut time of 3:41.42 for the crown, while the Texas foursome of Alison Soelter, Leah Avilla, Elaine Ferritto and Traci Van Matre clocked a B-cut second-place time of 3:44.56. Auburn scored the third-place points with Julianne McLane, Alicia Jensen, Tawnie Bethune and Margo McCawley touching in 3:48.35.

Goh absolutely dropped the hammer in the backstroke leadoff with a 54.65 that fell just .18 seconds off the A-cut threshold and easily cleared the B-cut standard. Avilla paced the breaststrokers with a 1:01.06 split, while Ohlgren turned in the top butterfly split with a 54.80. Kukors brought it home with the only sub-50 freestyle anchor time of 49.42.

1650-yard freestyle
The Tigers completely crushed the marathon race with the top four times to take a 29-7 lead. Adrienne Binder shattered the top 1650 free time in the nation with an A-cut time of 16:01.35. That time far surpassed the previous best effort Minnesota's Yuen Kobayashi, who posted a time of 16:18.83 on Dec. 3, 2006. Meanwhile, Hayley Peirsol touched second in a B-cut time of 16:24.63, while Chelsea Haser took third with a B-cut time of 16:51.02. Maggie Bird rounded out the top four with a B-cut time of 16:51.51 in a non-scoring performance. Susana Escobar gave UT its best finish with a fifth-place 16:56.00.

200-yard freestyle
Auburn went 1-2 in the 200 free to grab a 44-11 advantage. Emily Kukors clocked the third-fastest time in the country to win the race in an A-cut time of 1:46.79, while teammate Kristin Hastrup placed second in a B-cut time of 1:50.08. Elaine Ferritto concluded the top three for Texas in 1:52.09.

50-yard freestyle
The Tigers kept the ball rolling with a 1-2-3 finish to extend their lead to 60-14. Emile Ewing edged teammate Kara Denby, 23.53 – 23.63 for the title, while Melissa Marik finished third in 24.10.

400-yard IM
Auburn would not let up with a back-to-back 1-2-3 (this time even grabbing fourth) in the 400 IM for a 76-17 advantage. Ava Ohlgren tore through the race with a blazing mid-season time of 4:15.01 to post an A-cut effort. Meanwhile, Julie Stupp (4:19.99) and Anne Amardeilh (4:22.86) both cleared the B-cut standard for second and third place, respectively. For good measure, Blakeley Bunch finished fourth for Auburn in a non-scoring 4:25.86. Alison Soelter gave Texas its best finish with a fifth-place time of 4:26.22.

One-meter diving
Diving gave Texas some much-needed points as the Longhorns swept the top two spots. Mary Yarrison tallied 297.37 points for first, while Kathryn Kelly notched 284.55 for second place. Auburn's Corey Gerlach rounded out the podium with a third-place total of 275.47 points as Texas cut the gap to 80-32.

200-yard butterfly
Auburn responded to take a 95-36 lead with a 1-2 finish in the 200 fly. Kristin Hastrup posted an A-cut time of 1:58.50 for first, which also stands as the seventh-fastest time in the nation this year. Meanwhile, Tawnie Bethune clocked a B-cut time of 2:00.49 for second place. Katie Robinson posted a third-place time of 2:02.90 for the Longhorns.

100-yard freestyle
The Tigers pushed their lead to 109-41 with a 1-3 performances in the 100 free. A trio of swimmers eclipsed the B-cut standard as Emily Kukors won her second individual crown of the meet with a 50.18. Meanwhile, Texas' Connie Brown touched second in 50.82, while Auburn's Kara Denby picked up third in 50.91.

200-yard backstroke
Auburn continued to consume massive amounts of points to take a 124-45 lead. Julianne McLane won the 200 back in a B-cut time of 1:59.33, while teammate Rachel Goh placed second in 2:01.78. UT's Lindsay Voyles took third in 2:02.21.

500-yard freestyle
The Tigers went 1-2-3 again, this time in the middle distance event, en route to a 140-48 advantage. Adrienne Binder scored her second distance title with a B-cut time of 4:47.31, while teammate Ava Ohlgren (4:52.64) finished second in a B-cut time of her own. AU's Maggie Bird placed third in 4:57.93, while UT's Susana Escobar provided the top Texas finish with a fourth-place 4:59.52.

Three-meter diving
Auburn enacted its own mercy rule in the diving events as the Tigers would not score another point. Auburn's Corey Gerlach posted the top effort in the three-meter with a 325.35 tally, but UT's Mary Yarrison would technically walk away with the event title with a 321.89 total. Auburn's Lynnsey Segraves registered the third-most points with a 297.60 tally in a non-scoring effort.

200-yard breaststroke
UT's Leah Avilla legitimately won the 200 breaststroke title with a B-cut time of 2:15.28, while teammate Elizabeth Tinnon placed second in a B-cut time of 2:15.74. Auburn's Julie Stupp hit the wall third in a non-scoring time of 2:15.90.

200-yard freestyle relay
Texas scored the technical win in the 200 free relay as Connie Brown, Hee-Jin Chang, Margaret Bardin and Alex Basso touched in 1:35.29. Meanwhile, Auburn's Rachel Goh, Emile Ewing, Melissa Marik and Kara Denby touched first in a non-scoring time of 1:34.12 en route to the 140-91 conquest.

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