Auburn Men and Women Defeat Alabama

AUBURN, Ala., November 21. THE Auburn Tigers top-ranked men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams combined to clock the fastest time in every swimming event and took the top score in two out of four diving events as AU downed Alabama in two dual meets on Friday night in the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.

The two-time defending NCAA champion women were victorious by a 134-92 count while the NCAA champion men won by a final score of 149-77.

“I think Alabama brings out the best in all Auburn people,” AU Coach David Marsh said. “I have to give a lot of credit to the crowd. Swimmers don’t always see crowds of that size at a dual meet and I think they responded real well to it. We saw a few life-time best times out there and we are showing that we are getting better.”

Freshman Adrienne Binder etched her name in the AU books in the meet’s second event as the Santa Barbara, Calif., product recorded a school-record 9:41.38 in the 1,000 freestyle, bettering teammate Magda Dyszkiewicz’ three-year old record by just under two full seconds (9:43.30).

Nate Knopf had perhaps the meet’s most exciting swim of the night as the junior from Louisville, Ky., came back from a significant time deficit to win the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 9:18.07, just out-touching ‘Bama’s J.T. Jones (9:18.21).

Margaret Hoelzer, who hails from Huntsville, Ala., registered her first automatic NCAA time of the year with a 1:47.09 in the 200 freestyle. Heather Kemp, the 2003 NCAA Champion in the event, also collected her first NCAA time in the same event, placing second with a 1:47.36.

Other women to collect automatic times were Eileen Coparropa in the 100 freestyle (49.35) and Jeri Moss in the 200 backstroke (1:58.23).

On the men’s side, the Tigers claimed one-two finishes in six different individual events. George Bovell (1:38.09) and Wesley Flatt (1:38.84) accomplished the feat in the 200 freestyle with NCAA provisional times while Ryan Wochomurka (20.30) and Fred Bousquet (20.59) did the same in the 50 freestyle, with Wochomurka collecting a provisional time.

Chad Barlow rounded out the men’s provisionals with a first-place time of 1:47.12 in the 200 backstroke.

In the diving well, Andrew Sivulka claimed a first-place victory with a 323.47on the 1-meter and a second-place score on the 3-meter (325.05).

“It is great to see Andrew Sivulka come back with such great enthusiasm and talent,” AU Diving Coach Jeff Shaffer said. “I can tell he is going to be a huge contributor come SEC and NCAA time.”

The victory was the 37th straight dual meet win for the women and the 19th consecutive for the men.

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