Auburn vs. Florida

AUBURN, Alabama, January 25. THE Auburn swimming and diving teams split their final SEC dual meet of the season with conference rival Florida Saturday afternoon at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center. The No. 7 Auburn men earned their ninth win in 10 meetings against the sixth-ranked Gators, outscoring Florida, 166-132. On the women’s side, No. 5 Auburn was outscored 169-114 by sixth-ranked Florida, snapping a 12-meet winning streak for the Tigers.

“We had great leadership out there today,” said Auburn men’s co-head coach Brett Hawke. “Matt and Jakob really stepped for us. We have not been getting a lot of credit recently so we came out today really wanting to show what we were made of.”

The Auburn men started off the day with a win in the 200 medley relay, compliments of a 1:28.03 time posted by the team of Kohlton Norys, Adam Klein, Tyler McGill and Gideon Louw. The time fell under the NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 1:28.65.

In the 1000 freestyle, junior Will Dove hit the wall first with a time of 9:11.79 with sophomore Robert Looney posting a season-best time of 9:18.85 to finish 5th.

Senior Matt Targett picked up his first win of the day in the 200 free with new Auburn top-time of 1:37.03. The 2008 Olympic medalist would win two more events before the day was done.

Sophomore Adam Klein registered a new personal top-time of 54.83 in the 100 breaststroke to take first while junior teammate Michael Silva finished third with a new top time of his own, clocking in at 55.81.

The Auburn sprinters proved dominate as the Tigers took the top two spots in the 50 free led by Targett who posted his fastest time of the season at 19.65. Senior and fellow 2008 Olympian Jakob Andkjaer placed second, earning an NCAA “B” cut in his first event of the season.

Just minutes later, Targett claimed his third victory of the day with a time of 43.22 as Auburn swept the Gators in the 100 free. Sophomore and 2008 Olympian Gideon Louw finished behind Targett with a 43.61 with freshman Karl Krug posting a personal top-time of 44.82 to take third.

Sophomore Kohlton Norys won the 200 back for the Tigers with a time of 1:45.78 followed by Tyler McGill in the 100 butterfly where he earned an NCAA “B” cut with a new personal top-time of 47.53. On the boards, the Auburn men swept the 1-meter springboard competition and placed top-two on the 3-meter with juniors Kelly Marx and Dan Mazzaferro rounding out the top of both fields. On the 1-meter, Marx set a new personal top mark in both the 1- and 3-meter categories, posting 372.30 and 417.90, respectively.

“I was very pleased for Kelly (Marx),” said Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer. “That was a great performance. He put together two strong lists of dives. He’s in a position to continue challenging for an SEC title in springboard.”

For the women, junior Ava Ohlgren led the Tigers with wins in the 200 butterfly and the 200 individual medley with times of 1:57.35 and 2:00.29, respectively. Finishing just behind Ohlgren for second in the 200 IM was Caitlin Geary at 2:00.92.

“Caitlin Geary did a great job today, especially in the 200 IM,” said Auburn women’s co-head coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker. “That’s an event she normally doesn’t compete in. Micah Lawrence just keeps getting better and better.

“We are identifying some things we need to keep working on. We feel everything is setting up well for the end of the season.”

Auburn took the top-two spots in the 100 freestyle as freshman and 2008 Olympian Arianna Wanderpool-Wallace took first at 49.73 followed by Caitlin Geary at 49.96.

The Tigers again went 1-2 in the 200 breaststroke with Micah Lawrence and Melanie Roberts coming in a t 2:12.41 and 2:17.46.

Sophomore Caitlin Geary won the 200 free, touching in at 1:47.53 while freshman Micah Lawrence set a new Auburn season top-time of 1:01.83 to a win 100 breaststroke.

For the women divers, Vennie Danton finished second on the 3-meter platform with a personal top-score of 305.55. Danton also led the Tigers in the 1-meter with another personal top-score of 246.15.

Next up for the Tigers is the Ralph Cracker Invitational scheduled Jan.30 through Feb. 1 at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center

Special thanks to Auburn for contributing this report.

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