Tiger Swimming Starts Weekend with Sweep of Clemson

CLEMSON, SC, January 8. AUBURN’S men's and women's swimming teams kicked off the second half of their regular season with convincing dual meet wins over Clemson at the McHugh Natatorium on Friday afternoon, reported the visiting Tigers.

The second-ranked men's team downed Clemson, 138-96, while the No. 2-ranked women's team won by a final count of 158-81. The AU men and women combined to set six McHugh Natatorium poll records in the process.

"Given the level training we are in I was pleased with the results today. We continue to see great leadership from our seniors," AU Coach David Marsh said. "Kara Denby looks to be getting back into the form we saw from her before her illness in the fall."

Both Jana Kolukanova and Kirsty Coventry were double event winners for the AU women while the AU men had seven different men claim the top time in the 11 swimming events contested.

Kolukanova's double victory came in two freestyle events as she went 1:51.10 in the 200 and 50.80 in the 100.

Coventry cracked the 10-minute mark in the women's 1000 free, touching in a time of 9:58.40. She followed that up with a win in the 100 back, going 56.07.

Fred Bousquet claimed the victory in the men's 50 free, cruising to the pool record and victory with a time of 20.10, meeting the requirements for the 'B' cut. He has won the NCAA title in this event the past two seasons and is looking to become just the third man to win the title in three consecutive years.

Christina Swindle also claimed the sprint free title, clocking a 23.95 to Jenni Anderson's 24.41 and Erin Volcan's 24.51 as Auburn went 1-2-3.

Senior captain BJ Jones and Sean Osborne led an Auburn sweep in the men's 200 IM as the pair both registered times of 1:52.69 while Joey Schneider was third at 1:55.67.

Osborne also claimed the top time in the men's 100 breaststroke at 58.42 while Schneider won the 100 back in a time of 51.56.

Denby, who had not competed in the fall, earned a second-place finish in the 200 IM at 2:07.21, and swam the third leg of a 400 free relay with a split of 51.00.

The other men's pool records came in the men's 100 free, where Ryan Wochomurka went 44.58, and the 100 back, where Doug Van Wie went 49.21 in leading off the men's 400 medley relay.

The women's pool records were in the 400 medley relay (3:46.19), the 500 freestyle (Adrienne Binder * 4:47.45) and the 200 IM (Emily Kukors * 2:02.59).

The diving scores from the Georgia Diving Invitational were used in the scoring of the meet.

Auburn will stay in the Palmetto state on Saturday for dual meets with South Carolina. The meet is set to start at 10 a.m. CT at the Carolina Natatorium, which is housed in the Sol Blatt P.E. Center on the USC campus.

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