AUBURN, Alabama, February 21. THE Auburn men's swimming and diving team won its 13th consecutive SEC Championship Saturday to the tune of 880-626 over second-place Florida, tying the Gators for the most consecutive conference titles. The Tigers were led by Championship top-scorer Matt Targett, who claimed three individual titles, three new NCAA top-times and swam the anchor on the new US Open record setting 400 FR team.
The Auburn women lost out to Florida 744-730.5, the third closest SEC Championship in history. The women took a late lead over rival Florida but lost it with just one event to go. Junior Ava Ohlgren repeated as SEC Champion in the 200 and 400 individual medleys and picked up two NCAA "A" cuts in the process.
Day four started for the Tigers with the 1,650 free. Dove placed seventh, hitting a new top-time of 15:05.10. The Cary, N.C., native was followed in 10th by sophomore Robert Looney, touching in at 15:23.42. The Tigers last victory came in 1999 as Kevin Clements swam a 15:18.55.
The Auburn men had entered Saturday with a sturdy 182.5 point lead over second-place Florida and aimed to add some extra padding.
Junior Pascal Wollach looked for a sweep of the backstroke events but fell short, placing third in the men's 200. The Calgary, Canada native did, however, pick up an NCAA "A" cut for his time of 1:41.24. Sophomore Kohlton Norys (1:41.24) and freshman Max Murphy (1:43.10) placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Norys started prelims by winning the men's 200 back prelims, touching in at 1:41.84.
The Auburn men's sprinters looked continue their dominance Saturday night in the 100 free finals – and they did. The Tigers went 1,2,3. Auburn Olympian Matt Targett set a new SEC record and NCAA top-time, touching in at 41.55 to take first, his third 2009 SEC individual title. South African Gideon Louw placed second in 41.97 followed by senior Jakob Andkjaer in 42.36.
The 100 free is an event dominated by Auburn in recent years after winning the last six titles and 10 of the last 13.
Following his record-setting performance in prelims, senior Logan Madson placed third in the 200 fly, touching in at 1:42.15. Junior Tyler McGill (1:44.34) placed seventh.
Madson set the SEC 200 fly record in prelims but lost it to Goergia's Mark Dylla's 1:41.61 in the finals. The Tigers have won 10 200 fly titles with the last coming from Jeremy Knowles in 2004.
Dan Mazzaferro repeated as SEC Platform Champion, scoring an SEC record 487.90 through six dives. Kelly Marx posted a 423.85 to place second. The pair also finished 1,2 in Thursdays 3-meter competition.
Sophomore Adam Klein hit an "A" cut in the men's 200 breast, placing second with a 1:53.84. Junior Michael Silva (1:58.65) and freshman Genaro Prono (1:59.13) placed ninth and 10th, respectively. Klein gave the Tigers' their first "A" cut in the event.
The Tigers have won the 200 breast nine times but not since Dave Denniston accomplished a three-peat from 1999-2001.
The Tigers finished their championship route posting a new US Open record in the 400 FR. The team of Andkjaer, Louw, Norys and Targett sets a new US Open, NCAA, SEC record of 2:46.03. The Tiger women went into finals trailing the first-place Gators by eight after cutting a 57 point Thursday deficit. Georgia was only 27.5 points back of the Tigers.
The Auburn women advanced 12 to finals in Day 4 prelims, including seven in A final events. First-place Florida sent eight to A finals with three in consolation. Third-place Georgia, 27.5 points behind Auburn, had five in consolation and nine in the A finals.
Starting off in the 1,650 free, the Auburn women gained a crucial five points on both Florida and Georgia. Junior Maggie Bird finished third with a 16:03.00 followed by senior Chelsea Haser (16:12.65) in fifth and sophomore Micah Martindale (16:24.32) in tenth.
Florida responded by going 1,2,3 in the women's 200 back. Sophomore Erica Meissner swam a 1:54.08 to place fifth. Senior Julianne McLane (1:54.92) finished sixth and senior Emile Ewing (1:55.57) finished in eighth.
The Auburn women placed second and third in the 100 free to take a narrow half-point lead. Freshman Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace placed second with a 48.04 followed by sophomore Caitlin Geary in second with a 49.09. Junior Melissa Marik (48.89) placed 8th.
Auburn has only three championships in the 100 free with the last coming from Eileen Coparropa in 2004.
Auburn maintained its newfound lead over the Gators while only advancing two swimmers to the consolation finals for the 200 breast. Sophomore Melanie Roberts won the B final for the Tigers, timing in at 2:12.16, a new top-time. Sophomore Josefin Wede (2:15.71) placed fourth. Although the Tigers did not have a competitor in the finals, Auburn gained three points on the Gators. However, a 2,3 finish from the Bulldogs brought Georgia back to within 12.5 of the Tigers.
Florida's strength in numbers gave Auburn troubles down the stretch as Ava Ohlgren was the lone Tiger in the women's 200 fly finals, hitting an "A" cut time of 1:54.94. Florida's Jemma Lowe set a new SEC record for the win while fellow Gators came in fourth and sixth. Auburn dropped from first to third and 22 points out of the lead with only the 400 FR to go.
The Auburn women's 400 FR team closed the day setting a new SEC record, with a 3:12.00. As a whole, the Auburn men's and women's trams hit 28 new NCAA automatic qualifying times, 12 SEC records and two US Open records.
In a four-day 2009 SEC Championship meet that came down to the very last relay, the No. 5 University of Florida women won their 17th SEC crown, the first since 2002, after edging out second-place finisher Auburn and the third-place Georgia (725). The win for the Gators was the third-closest competition in SEC history, Florida with 744 points, Auburn with 730.5. On the men's side, the No. 8 Gators claimed second-place (626) at the 2009 league meet for the eighth-consecutive year to the men's team from Auburn (880.5). Tennessee finished third for the men (584).
Gemma Spofforth (West Sussex, England) was named the SEC Female Swimmer of the Year for setting a new NCAA, SEC, UF and pool record that rallied the charge for the Gators on the final night of the league championships. Spofforth became just the second swimmer to ever break the 1:50 mark as she defended her 200-yard back title and swam the fastest time in the NCAA. Spofforth captured her second individual title and SEC record of the meet, her fourth overall in 2009 as a member of two SEC champion relays.
Spofforth shared the women's highpoint with Auburn's Ava Ohlgren. The two each contributed 57 points to their team's total points.
"I am so proud of both our men and women's teams. They really brought it tonight," head coach Gregg Troy said. "Yesterday we were in a little bit of a hole and had some trouble racing, but our divers really kept us in the meet. Both the men and women gave it everything they had tonight. Gemma was just outstanding and had some great swims. The men's and women's backstroke championships to kick off tonight were a big key to our success. We're extremely excited and we're going to take a couple of days to enjoy this, but then it's back to business. We're not done yet. We have some other team goals that we'd like to achieve this year."
On top of 10 SEC Championships, six for the women and four for the men, the Gators set one NCAA record, 16 UF records, nine James E. Martin Aquatics Center pool records, five SEC records and captured 22 NCAA automatic qualifying marks during their 2009 SEC Championship meet campaign.
To make Spofforth's victory even sweeter, the Gators went 1-2-3 in the back with freshman Teresa Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.) capturing second and junior Stephanie Proud (Durham, England) taking the third-place spot.
Senior Rex Tullius (Port Orange, Fla.) and Omar Pinzon (Bogota, Colombia) went one-two in the 200-yard back as Tullius captured his first SEC championship ever. In last year's championship meet, Pinzon took the title. Tullius swam the fastest time in the NCAA this year, the fourth-fastest 200-yard backstroke all-time. Pinzon was the second-place high point finisher on the men's side for the Gators after racking up 50 points for Florida.
Jemma Lowe (Hartlespool, United Kingdom) won her second SEC crown of the 2009 meet in the 200-yard butterfly after capturing the 100-yard fly Friday. Lowe set a new SEC and UF record with her 1:52.53 finish, the fastest time this year.
Both junior Clark Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) and Shaune Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) captured Florida records on the final night of SEC competition, Burckle finishing third in the 200-yard breast (1:54.42), while Fraser took second, an improvement from his 2008 third-place finish, in the 200-yard fly (1:41.88).
Senior Laurabeth Guenthner (Wellington, Fla.) rallied for the second-fastest time in the NCAA this season in the 1650-yard free, clocking a 15:56.44, second-place finish, which set a new career-best time in the event. Gator freshman Melani Costa Schmid (Palma de Mallona Spain) swam to a 16:24.12, marking the first time this season she's swum the event. Costa-Schmid's eighth-place time was an NCAA provisional mark, while junior Kristen Beales (Arlington, Va.) turned in a 16:36.83 to place 13th.
Ryan Crete (Sarasota, Fla.) rallied for Florida's highest finish in the mile on the men's side. Crete shattered a career-best by nearly seven seconds with his 14:53.63 swim, and fell just shy of the NCAA automatic qualifying mark (14:51.15) with his third-place, NCAA provisional swim. Sophomores Joey Pedraza (Ft. Lauderdale,Fla.) (15:00.33) and Logan Storie (Corvallis, Ore.) (15:05.19) and senior Scott Thompson (Birmingham, Mich) (15:24.64) placed fifth, eighth and 13th, respectively. Senior Cody Kauffman (Harrisburg, Pa.) (15:12.73), Storie and Pedraza all secured NCAA B standards, with Pedraza and Storie achieving career-bests and Kauffman earning a season-best time as an exhibition swimmer in the event.
Special thanks to Auburn, Florida for contributing this report.
Results: Southeastern Conference Championships
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