GAINESVILLE, Florida, January 26. THE Auburn swimming and diving teams combined for five NCAA automatic qualifying times, 27 provisional times and 17 Olympic Trials qualifying times Saturday as the Tigers split in dual meet action with SEC rival Florida.
Auburn's women (5-1), currently ranked No. 1 in the CSCAA Top-25 poll,
posted seven wins in the meet, but came up short in the end as the
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Tigers fell to seventh-ranked Florida (9-1), 165-135. Auburn's
sixth-ranked men (3-2) tallied 10 wins in the 165-135 win over the No. 5
Gators (9-2).
The win for the men extends its winning streak over UF to nine while the
loss for the women ends an 11-meet winning streak.
A unique situation in Saturday's meet was competing in long course
meters, as opposed to the normal short course yards. Instead of swimming
in a 25-yard pool, the course was lengthened to a 50-meter pool. With
2008 being an Olympic year, the opportunity to swim in long course
meters allows the swimmers to qualify for Olympic Trials and national
teams.
Head coach Richard Quick was very pleased with his team's performance on
Saturday, taking the win off Florida on their home turf.
"It was a really important win for our men's team," said Quick. "My
theme has been to keep growing and keep improving and that happened in
this meet. I think it is significant that we beat them long course
because they are built for long course swimming a little bit better than
we are. But, we still stepped up and got the job done, so I am real
pleased where we are with the men."
For the women's team, even with the loss now on their record, co-head
coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said that there are a lot of positives to
take from the meet.
"I think we took things for granted at the beginning of the meet and
Florida really competed well today, I take my hat off to them," said
Tierney-Walker. "I think we got better throughout the meet, showed some
areas that we need to work on quite a bit, so all in all I think we are
going to take something positive out of this."
Another positive she is taking from the meet is the performance of
freshman Caitlin Geary. The Orlando, Fla. native won the 50 free, 100
free and 200 free. She earned Olympic Trial cuts in all three events, an
"A" cut in the 200 free and "B" cuts in the 50 free and 100 free.
"We had some real good swims by Caitlin Geary, she got two Olympic Trial
cuts that she didn't have, so we are real proud to see her get up and
take care of business there," said Tierney-Walker.
The men also had a freshman step up in some crucial spots as Kohlton
Norys won the 100 back, capturing a NCAA automatic cut and an Olympic
Trial cut. He also picked up a "B" cut and a Trials cut in the 200 back,
finishing runner-up.
"Kohlton Norys took a big step today, winning the 100 back was an
awesome performance as well as qualifying for the NCAAs," said Quick.
"Then he raced tough in the 200 back. Some of our other freshmen did
really well for us, Adam Klein raced tough in the 200 breast, Robert
Looney swam real well in the 1500 and Andrew Mitchell had a good meet.
They are starting to grow up and that is what you hope for out of your
freshmen."
Also performing well for the men was junior Cesar Cielo. The reigning
NCAA Swimmer of the Year won the 50 and 100 free, earning an "A" cut
time in the 100.
Auburn returns to dual meet action on Feb. 9 at home against Florida
State and Arkansas' women. Some Tiger swimmers will return to the pool
Feb. 1-3 for the Ralph Crocker Classic at the James E. Martin Aquatics
Center in Auburn, Ala.
Special thanks to Auburn for contributing this report.
Results: Auburn at Florida
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