Texas Longhorns Sweep Auburn Tigers in Top-Ranked Thursday Tilt

AUSTIN, Texas, January 9. IN a battle of top-15 teams, the Texas Longhorns managed to play the role of rude hosts to the Auburn Tigers as UT picked up wins in both the men’s and women’s dual meets. The No. 2 Longhorn men won 162.5 to 132.5, against the No. 8 Auburn Tigers, while the No. 8 women topped No. 14 Auburn, 168.5 to 129.5.

Texas Men’s Release
No. 2 Texas (6-1) won nine events and claimed a 162.5-132.5 victory over No. 8 Auburn Thursday afternoon at UT’s Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

The meet kicked off with the one-meter diving event, where redshirt junior Will Chandler was victorious with 367.05 points. Sophomore Cory Bowersox and freshman Michael Hixon solidified a one-two-three Texas finish. Bowersox took second just behind Chandler with 365.78 points while Hixon was third with 361.43 points.

Texas picked up where the divers left off and took first and second in the 1,000-yard freestyle, where freshman Clark Smith picked up the win in 9:05.73. Sophomore Sam Lewis took second in 9:09.46. Juniors Clay Youngquist, Kip Darmody and Jake Ritter notched a one-two-three Texas showing in the 200 freestyle. Youngquist took the win with a NCAA “B” cut of 1:36.90. Darmody, whose brother Kyle swims for Auburn, took second in 1:39.40, while Ritter took third in 1:40.77.

Sophomore John Martens added a NCAA “B” cut and a victory in the 200 butterfly at 1:46.72, and junior Tripp Cooper placed third in 1:50.36. Freshman Jack Conger engaged in a tight battle with Auburn’s Joe Patching in the 200 backstroke and emerged with a narrow victory in 1:44.57. Patching finished in 1:44.89. Freshman Will Glass placed third in 1:47.27.

Freshman Will Licon claimed the 200 breaststroke in 2:01.19 and was followed by junior Matt Korman, the event’s reigning Big 12 champion, who tied for second at 2:02.96. Youngquist posted his second win of the day and led a one-two finish in the 500 freestyle at 4:26.22. Lewis took second at 4:28.36.

Conger and Cooper led a one-two Longhorns showing in the 100 butterfly, where Conger scored his second win in 47.32, and Cooper finished in 48.20. Freshman Michael Hixon completed the Texas sweep of the diving events and captured the three-meter event with 422.03 points.

With the team victory in hand, Texas declined its remaining points in the 400 IM and 200 freestyle relay.

Texas hosts another Southeastern Conference foe on Saturday, Jan. 11 when it welcomes Georgia. The meet will kick off with the 1,650 freestyle at 9:30 a.m. CT, and Longhorn Network will pick up live coverage beginning at 10 a.m. CT.

Texas Women’s Release
No. 8 Texas (8-2) won nine events and claimed a 168.5-129.5 victory over No. 14 Auburn Thursday afternoon at UT’s Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

The Texas divers opened the meet with the first of their two wins on the day. Sophomore Meghan Houston led a one-two-three Texas finish in the one-meter diving event with 293.48 points. Senior Maren Taylor took a close second with 288.75 points while junior Emma Ivory-Ganja placed third with 279.83 points.

Texas cruised to victory in the 200-yard medley relay, where senior Lily Moldenhauer, junior Gretchen Jaques, freshman Brynne Wong and senior Ellen Lobb finished in 1 minute, 40.47 seconds. A pair of Longhorns seniors finished atop the 200 freestyle, as Alex Hooper took the win in 1:48.25. Samantha Tucker followed in second at 1:49.44.

Longhorns took the top-four places in the 100 breaststroke, as Jaques emerged with the win in 1:01.78. Freshman Madisyn Cox was the runner-up in 1:02.63, and junior Skylar Smith placed third in 1:03.80. Shortly after anchoring the 200 medley relay to victory, Lobb claimed the 50 freestyle in 22.85.

Taylor finished off Texas’ sweep of the diving events and took top honors in the three-meter event with 345.90 points. Freshman Murphy Bromberg finished as the runner-up with 323.63 points.

Cox registered the first of her two wins on the day in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:15.34 that fell under the NCAA provisional-qualifying standard. Smith took second for the Horns in 2:18.12. Better known for her excellence in the 100 and 200 freestyles, Tucker showed off her range in the 500 freestyle and took the win in 4:53.19 and edged teammate Kelsey LeNeave, who clocked 4:53.69.

Cox posted her second win in the 400 individual medley and cruised to victory in 4:16.61. The Lubbock native has chopped over six seconds off of her personal best in the 400 IM in only four months with the Longhorns.

With the team victory in hand, Texas declined its point allotment in the meet’s final event, the 200 freestyle relay.

Texas welcomes another Southeastern Conference foe on Saturday when it hosts Georgia. The meet opens at 9:30 a.m. CT with the 1,650 freestyle. Longhorn Network will pick up live coverage of the meet beginning at 10 a.m. CT.

Auburn Press Release
The Auburn swimming and diving team fell to No. 2/8 Texas in its final non-conference dual meet of the season on Thursday at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

The loss marked the first of the season in dual meet action for the 14th-ranked Auburn women (3-1) as the Tigers were defeated by the Longhorns 168.5-129.5. The loss also snapped the Tigers’ streak of 10 straight dual meet wins dating back to the 2011-12 season.

Texas’ men downed Auburn (2-2) 162.5-132.5 as the team’s meet for the 25th time. The Tigers swept the relay events and got a pair of victories from senior Marcelo Chierighini and freshman Joe Patching.

“I definitely thought there was some good swimming, we were rusty in some areas since we haven’t raced since the end of November,” Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said. “We practiced through a huge training block and I think that was showing in some of the kids today, but there was definitely some fight out there. I thought as a team we stuck together really well.”

EVENT BREAKDOWN: Auburn’s men won seven events in Thursday’s dual versus the Longhorns, while the women picked up six victories. Auburn’s relay squads combined to win three of the four relay events.

QUOTING HAWKE: “I know our relays are one our strengths and I thought they performed really well. I thought our changeovers were very good today, there were some little things that I think happened today that we need to go and look at. It’s the first time we’ve raced in a while.”

“Joe Patching and Michael Dudestadt have really performed well and are stepping it up in practice. You can see it in the racing and I think they are going to have a great season.”

“Today was a nice dress rehearsal for the men since Texas will host NCAAs in March. We really wanted to race into SECs and this sets that up. I’m looking forward to a lot more racing ahead.”

TEXAS TRIO: Three Tigers returned to their home state on Thursday as Jillian Vitarius, Jordan Jones and Sarah Peterson competed for Auburn. Peterson won the 200 fly and finished second in the 400 IM. Vitarius picked up a win in the 200 free, while Jones finished second in the men’s 400 IM.

“I was really happy with our three Texas kids. I thought they performed well in their home state,” Hawke said.

AUBURN RELAYS:
– The Auburn women opened up the meet with a second-place finish behind the foursome of Emily Bos, Annie Lazor, Megan Fonteno and Allyx Purcell (1:40.47).
– The Tiger men won the 200 medley relay with a 1:28.88 behind Joe Patching, Michael Duderstadt, Marcelo Chierighini and James Disney-May.
– In the women’s 200 free relay, group of Purcell, Bos, Fonteno and Aubrey Peacock guided the Tigers to a win in the 200 women’s relay, finishing at 1:31.40.
– In the men’s 200 free relay, the quartet of Chierighini, Disney-May, TJ Leon and Kyle Darmody went 1:19.05 to take first in the final event of the day.

GOING THE DISTANCE:
– Freshman Ashley Neidigh earned her second win of the season in the 1,000 free with a time of 10:01.69. Siena DeVenuto finished sixth at 10:30.90.
– Senior Zane Grothe picked up a third-place finish with a swim of 9:30.09, while sophomore Tommy McKee was sixth at 9:40.51.

MID-DISTANCE:
– In the women’s 200 free, Haley Krakoski’s 1:49.45 led the way for the Tigers, finishing third. Jillian Vitarius was fifth in the 200, swimming 1:53.07.
– McKee was Auburn’s top-finisher, taking fifth with a time of 1:41.91.
– Neidigh continued her strong performance in the distance events and placed third in the women’s 500 free with a 4:57.89.
– Grothe took third in the men’s 500 free, recording a time of 4:35.26. McKee was fifth at 4:37.45.

SPRINTING TO THE WALL:
– Freshman Allyx Purcell (22.94) was second in the women’s 50 freestyle, while the senior pair of Haley Krakoski (23.28) and Megan Fonteno (23.64) finished third and tied for fourth, respectively.
– Senior Marcelo Chierighini claimed his first win of the day in the men’s 50 free, taking first with a time of 19.90. Chierighini’s victory was his fourth in the 50 free this season. The senior also claimed the men’s 100 free after the meet’s first break, posting a time of 43.20. Fellow senior James Disney-May was second at 44.34 to cap off a 1-2 finish for Auburn.
– In the women’s 100 free, the Tigers swept the event as senior Emily Bos (50.00) took first, Krakoski (50.18) was second, while freshman Allyx Purcell (50.43) earned a third-place finish.

BACKSTROKE SWEEP:
– Senior Emily Bos took the win in the women’s 100 back at 53.41, while Sarah Reynolds took fourth place with a swim of 56.09.
– Freshman Joe Patching earned his second straight win the 100 back (48:09), while another freshman, Kyle Darmody, picked up a third-place finish with a time of 48.60.
– The Tigers took first and third in the women’s 200 back as Jillian Vitarius posted her second win of the year in the event, with a swim of 1:56.67. Aubrey Peacock provided the Tigers with a third-place finish at 2:01.06 over Sarah Reynolds, who came in fourth at 2:01.09.
– In the men’s 200 back, Patching was out-touched at the wall by Texas’ Jack Conger to finish second at 1:44.89.

BUTTERFLY SUCCESS:
– Auburn picked up a 1-2 finish in the women’s 200 fly as Sarah Peterson won with a time of 2:00.95, while Merritt claimed second at 2:02.94.
– On the men’s side, Arthur Mendes was second at 1:50.16 in the 200 fly. Allen Browning took fourth with a mark of 1:50.61.
– Mendes claimed second in the longer of the two fly events with a 1:50.16. Texas’ John Marten was first with 1:46.72. Allen Browning was fourth at 1:50.61, while Alexander Hancock took fifth at 1:51.16.
– Olivia Scott picked up her first victory of the season in the women’s 100 fly, posting a time of 54.25.

TIGER IMs:
– In his first appearance of the year in the 400 IM, Joe Patching won the race down the stretch with a 3:54.17. Jordan Jones took second with a 3:55.52.
– On the women’s side, Peterson continued her strong performance of the day in the 400 IM with a time of 4:19.32 for second.

DIVING RESULTS:
– Junior Cinzia Calabretta finished fourth for the Tigers in the women’s 1-meter competition with a 276.68 to lead the way for Auburn. Carly Scheper finished sixth for the Tigers at 270.08.
– In men’s 1-meter competition, Fraser McKean was the top finisher for the Tigers, taking fourth at 359.93, just 1.5 points out of third.
– Morgan Mullins turned in a personal best in the women’s 3-meter event, finishing fifth with 292.28.
– John Santeiu IV took second for Auburn in the men’s 3-meter with a score of 394.65, while McKean finished third at 383.33.

Auburn returns to conference action on Saturday, Jan. 25 at Florida. The meet is set to begin at noon. The Tigers host South Carolina for Senior Day at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center on Feb. 1.

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