Auburn Tigers Dominate Seminoles

TALLAHASSEE, Florida, January 27. JUST Seventeen hours after defeating Indian River Community College on Friday afternoon, Florida State returned to the Bobby E. Leach center to face the defending national champion Auburn Tigers. The 15th ranked men's team fell by a 133-108 margin to the third ranked Tigers , while the seventh ranked women's team lost 129-112 to the number two ranked Auburn squad.

The top swimmer for the men's team was junior Kyle Young (Oviedo, Fla.) who swept both distance events. He also won the 200-yard freestyle. Young began the day by winning the 1650-yard freestyle with a NCAA "B" cut time of 15:28.67. He came back a mere three minutes later to claim the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:39.45.

"That was just an iron man performance," commented Head Coach Neil Harper. "To swim the mile, and win it and then get out, then about three minutes later and win the 200 freestyle. I think most of our coaches and the team looked at that with disbelief. It was a really impressive double. Then to come back and win the 500 freestyle. I think that is really a credit to him, his work ethic and he should be excited about the rest of his season.

Young's third victory came in the 500 freestyle where he clocked in with another NCAA "B" cut time of 4:29.10.

Top honors on the women's side came for sophomore Christie Raleigh (Tom's River, N.J.). Raleigh won both the 50 and 100 freestyle events in NCAA "B" cut times of 22.83 and 50.27, respectively. Raleigh's presence was also felt as she swam the lead off leg on the 200-yard medley relay team that won with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:41.49. The 200-yard medley relay team was rounded out by senior Lauren Brick (Culpeper, Va.), junior Lauren Sparg (Durban, South Africa), and junior Abbie King (Brunswick, Maine).

Freshman diver Terry Horner (Orlando, Fla.) notched another NCAA Zone qualifying mark in the three-meter diving event. His six-dive total of 378.83 was just 1.09 points shy of Luis Gagnet's 2003 record of 380.92. Junior Jarryd Botha (Worchester, South Africa) took top pegging in the 200 backstroke with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:48.69.

Senior Romy Altmann (Cape Town, South Africa) celebrated senior day with a victory in the 200-yard backstroke. Her NCAA "B" cut time 2:00.18 was her first of 2007. Sophomore Ann Cipoletti (Charelston, W.V.) swam her third NCAA "B" cut time of the season in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:17.34. Freshman diver Katie Sirounis (Inner Harbor Beach, Fla.) completed her first sweep of the season by winning both the one and three meter diving events. Her score of 254.93 in the one meter only missed zone qualifying standards by seven hundereths of a point, while her three-meter score of 270.53 provisionally qualified her for NCAA Zone championships.

"I was really excited about our kids," added Harper. "We went against the defending national champions from last year and our kids didn't back down. We won quite a few races and we were competitive. Where we are in our season, we're in heavy training. I was excited the way our kids fought for every race and fought for every place. They stayed positive and really gave all for the battle today."

The Seminoles will now prepare for the ACC Championships in Chapel Hill, N.C. The women's meet begins on February 14th and ends the 17th. The men will compete from February 21st through the 24th. The ACC Diving Championships for the men's and women's teams will be held February 14th through the 17th in Durham, N.C.

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