Auburn, Texas A&M vs. Florida State

TALLAHASSEE, Florida, February 7. THE Florida State swimming and diving teams were defeated by Auburn on Saturday at the Bobby E. Leach Center pool. The Seminole women lost 166-120 and the men were beaten 167-122. The Tigers earned 12 new NCAA provisional cuts during the meet.

"I like the way we performed," FSU head coach Neil Harper said. "Being a week or two away from ACC's I like where we're at. It's always frustrating when you're swimming well and you're competing against teams that are top five in the country and sometimes our results are better than what place we get in each event."

The women were paced on the diving board by junior Katie Sirounis. The Indian Harbor Beach, Fla., native won the one-meter (273.20) and three-meter (307.15) competitions to sweep the boards.

"I was very relaxed and tried to do my best and this has built my confidence going into ACC's," Sirounis said. "All of our hard work is really showing this year and the entire team is diving well."

While the Garnet and Gold women did not win any events in the pool they did turn in some top performances. Junior Tiffany Elias and sophomore C.J. Hendry both turned in second place finishes in butterfly events. Elias was runner-up in the 200 fly with a season best time of 2:01.77 while Hendry placed second in the 100 fly (55.05) which was also a season best. Sophomores Jocelyn Phillips and Holly Mills and freshman Jessica Sabotin each had a third place finish. Phillips touched third in the 500 free (4:59.17), Mills in the 1000 free (10:15.38) and Sabotin in the 400 individual medley (4:26.15).

"I think we're doing what we need to do to be ready for the ACC's," Harper said. "I think we continue to execute what we need to do to prepare. We're near the end of the year and we just have to be patient."

On the men's side it was senior Dan Frebel who once again swept the diving events for FSU. The Indianapolis, Ind., native was victorious on the one-meter with a six dive total of 327.95 and on the three-meter with a score of 352.15. In the water Florida State's lone victory came from sophomore Ian Rowe who was victorious in the 1000 free with a season best time of 9:17.31. Junior Nick Graves turned in a pair of second place performances in the 1000 free (9:20.21) and 500 free (4:34.98). The Seminoles also got second place performances from junior Scott Thacker in the 200 breast (2:02.90) and sophomore Rob Holderness who swam his best time of the season in the 400 individual medley (4:03.17).

"We will be easing back on the workload the next couple of weeks," Harper said. "We really pushed our kids this year and it's time for us to get some rest and focus on the big meets coming up."

Next up for Florida State is the 2009 ACC Championships in College Park, Md. The women will compete first from February 18-21 and the men will compete February 25-28. For results and recaps from all the action log onto www.seminoles.com.

Special thanks to Florida State for contributing this report.

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