Florida vs. Auburn

AUBURN, Alabama, January 21. THE Auburn swimming and diving team closed out the dual-meet season with a sweep over SEC rival Florida at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center Friday. The 12th-ranked Auburn women topped No. 6 Florida, 165-135, and the sixth-ranked Auburn men defeated No. 5 Florida, 167-133.

"It was a great win for the team and I'm really proud of how the squad raced today," head coach Brett Hawke said. "We have a lot of work left to do to be ready for the championship season, but we have great energy within the team and gained a lot of confidence with the win today."

With it being the last meet of the season, the Tigers took time to honor their 11 seniors before the start: Caitlin Geary, Micah Martindale, Erica Meissner, Melanie Roberts, Adam Brown, Adam Klein, Robert Looney, Dan Mazzaferro, Andrew Mitchell, Kohlton Norys and Jared White.

"This was a fantastic way to send out our seniors," Hawke said. "This group has experienced a lot of change throughout their career here, but has stuck together and capped off the regular season in a tremendous way."

All 11 seniors contributed greatly in today's meet, including a trio of who capped off the night with a pair of individual victories each. Brown finished first in both sprint freestyles, clocking a NCAA "B" time of 19.80 in the 50 free and a "B" time of 43.40 in the 100 free. Klein led the way in the breaststroke events, taking first in the 100 breast (54.46) and 200 breast (1:58.33).
On the diving side of competition, Mazzaferro led all divers with a pair of victories on the springboard events. He opened with a first-place finish on the one-meter, recording a score of 344.78. Mazzaferro closed out the diving portion on the three-meter and took first with 392.70 points.

"I'm really proud of all the accomplishments Dan (Mazzaferro) has had in his career and I'm proud with how he performed today," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said.

Other seniors tallying individual wins were White and Norys. White took first in the 100 back, recording a time of 47.94. Norys won the other backstroke event, capturing the 200 back with a time of 1:44.46. Norys also scored points for the Tigers in the 200 free as he finished second in 1:38.31.

Also contributed to the success of the team were seniors Geary, Meissner, Roberts, Martindale, Mitchell and Looney. Geary earned a pair of second-place finishes, coming in the 200 free (1:48.68) and in the 200 IM (2:00.47).

Meissner finished third in the 200 back (1:59.31) and fourth in the 100 back (54.20), while Roberts was fourth in the 200 fly (2:02.63) and the 200 IM (2:05.17) and Martindale finished fourth in the 1000 free (9:59.54). Mitchell had two fourth-place finishes for Auburn in the 200 fly (1:49.87) and the 200 IM (1:50.99) and Looney came in sixth in the 200 fly (1:51.25).

Freshman Emily Bos capped off a successful first dual season for Auburn as she recorded first in both the 100 and 200 backstroke events. After clocking a first-place time of 54.20 in the 100 back, she followed with top finish in a neck-and-neck race in the 200 back. Bos outstretched Florida's Teresa Crippen by .10 seconds to win the race in 1:56.33.

Divers Vennie Dantin and Anna Aguero had a successful meet as each picked up individual wins for Auburn. Dantin took first on the one-meter with a score of 292.50, while Aguero won the three-meter event with 322.95 points. Also having a great meet was freshman John Santeiu IV as he captured second on both the one-meter (319.80) and three-meter (382.05).

"I'm really excited for John (Santeiu) and the way he continues to step up and perform," Shaffer said. "He's going to be a key player for us come championship season. Vennie (Dantin) and Anna (Aguero) were both solid today. Overall, I like where we are and am excited to see what the future holds."

Auburn captured both the women's 100 and 200 breaststroke events as sophomore Lindsey Norberg won the 100 distance (1:01.91) and junior Micah Lawrence finished first in the 200 event (2:14.10). Junior Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace had a win in the 100 free (48.76), while freshman Olivia Scott came away with a first-place finish in the 100 fly with a time of 53.54.

A pair of sophomores had a pair of second-place finishes each in Hannah Riordan and Katie Gardocki. Riordan finished second in the 50 free (23.02) and 100 free (49.87) and Gardocki led all Auburn distance swimmers with runner-up finishes in the 500 free (4:51.74) and 1000 free (9:52.11).

Freshman Nimrod Hayet led the Tigers in a pair of events, taking second in the 100 fly (48.99) and third in the 200 IM (1:50.76). Freshman Zane Grothe had Auburn's best finish in the 1000 free, taking second in a time of 9:10.64.

The Tigers won all four relay events, opening with the 200 medley relay. The team of Bos, Lindsey Norberg, Scott and Vanderpool-Wallace won the women's heat in a time of 1:39.42. White, Klein, Brown and Karl Krug took first in the men's heat in 1:27.83.

Auburn concluded the meet with the 400 free relay and the quartet of Vanderpool-Wallace, Riordan, Bos and Geary won for the women in 3:21.11. The men were led by the team of Krug, Brown, Marcelo Chierighini and Norys as the quad finished first in 2:55.33.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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