ATHENS, Georgia, February 20. THE Auburn men claimed its record 14th-consecutive
\nSoutheastern Conference Swimming and Diving title Saturday at the
\nGabrielsen Natatorium hosted by the University of Georgia. The 14
\nstraight league titles broke the previous record of 13 in a row, held by
\nFlorida from 1956-68.<\/p>\n
"Wow, this one was a tough one," head coach Brett Hawke said.
\n"Florida has a great team and we had to fight hard right to the
\nend. We knew that our strengths would end up carrying us through.
\nWinning four of the five relays this week is a huge highlight."<\/p>\n
Auburn won with 784 points, while Florida finished second with 765
\npoints. It marked the ninth consecutive year that the Tigers and Gators
\nhave finished 1-2 in the SEC meet.<\/p>\n
"Florida is very well coached and every year is going to be a
\nbattle," Hawke said. "But, our team knows all about Rowdy Gaines and
\nthe dynasty that David Marsh built. They know the great history Auburn
\nhas. We don't chase the number of championships, just focus on winning
\neach year like the teams before us have done."<\/p>\n
The league crown was also Auburn 16th overall league title, all coming
\nover the last 17 years.<\/p>\n
The Auburn women finished third with 568 points, the 14th year in a row
\nthat the Tigers have finished third or better at the conference
\nchampionships. Georgia claimed the women's team title.<\/p>\n
Leading Florida by 13 points entering the final event of the meet, the
\nfoursome of Adam Brown, Christopher Fox, Kohlton Norys and Gideon Louw,
\nled from start to finish in the 400 free relay, securing the team title
\nfor the Tigers. The group won in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of
\n2:49.63, to hold off the Gators who finished second in 2:49.95.<\/p>\n
"We knew we just had to finish, but we wanted to come out on top,"
\nLouw said of the race. "Winning this for the team means everything and
\nwe're so proud to extend the Auburn legacy."<\/p>\n
Auburn led Florida entering the evening session, however, Florida
\novertook the lead after the 1,650 freestyle and 200 backstroke, holding
\na slim four point advantage.<\/p>\n
The Tigers regained the team lead for good in the next event, the 100
\nfreestyle, behind Louw's first place finish, coupled with third and
\nsixth-place finishes by Brown (42.92) and Fox (43.69). Louw touched the
\nwall in 42.36.<\/p>\n
"Auburn prides itself on being the best sprinters in the country,"
\nLouw said. "I'm honored to follow in the shoes of greats like Coach
\nHawke, Fred Bousquet, Cesar Cielo and Matt Targett. It was a great swim
\nand I'm so proud of how this team has fought."<\/p>\n
Auburn swept the men's and women's 100 freestyle as Arianna
\nVanderpool-Wallace won in 47.93. It was the seventh consecutive title
\nfor the men in 100 free at SEC's and first for the women since 2004.
\nVanderpool-Wallace's win was her second SEC individual title of the
\nmeet, adding to her 100 butterfly title Friday. Hannah Riordan claimed
\nseventh in 49.53.<\/p>\n
"It is an awesome feeling," Vanderpool-Wallace said after the win.
\n"Last year, I came in second in the event, so finally winning the
\ntitle is a great way to end my individual races at the meet."<\/p>\n
Auburn extended its lead in the men's standings to 39 points after
\nthe 200 breaststroke thanks to junior Adam Klein's second place finish
\nand freshman Stuart Ferguson, who claimed seventh. Klein touched in
\n1:55.68, while Ferguson recorded a 1:58.95. Michael Silva added to the
\nTigers' scoring, winning the consolation finals in 1:58.12.<\/p>\n
Tyler McGill was sixth in the 200 fly in 1:44.04. Florida, however,
\nclosed the gap in the team competition to 13 points thanks to three
\ntop-five finishers in the 300 fly, which was the second to last event of
\nthe meet.<\/p>\n
Junior Vennie Dantin finished second on the women's platform with a
\nscore of 311.15. Overall, the Auburn divers collected three conference
\ntitles and all four qualified for each event final.<\/p>\n
"I couldn't be more proud of this diving team's efforts
\nthroughout the entire meet," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said.
\n"We won three SEC titles, set a new SEC record and it's very
\nrewarding to know that their hard work has paid off."<\/p>\n
The foursome of Hannah Riordan, Ava Ohlgren, Melissa Marik and
\nVanderpool-Wallace took third in the 400 freestyle relay in a time of
\n3:15.26.<\/p>\n
Auburn had three of the top seven finishers in the men's 200
\nbackstroke and was led by senior Pascal Wollach's third place finish
\nin 1:41.74. Kohlton Norys (1:42.91) was fifth, while Andrew Mitchell
\n(1:44.13) took seventh.<\/p>\n
In the 1,650 freestyle, freshman Katie Gardocki finished seventh in
\n16:17.20. On the men's side, senior William Dove and freshman Chris
\nKrammer finished 10th and 11th, respectively in times of 15:31.53 and
\n15:32.35.<\/p>\n
Marik was the Tigers' top finisher in the women's 200 back,
\ntouching in seventh place with a time of 1:58.56. Ohlgren was Auburn's
\ntop finisher in the 200 butterfly, as the senior was sixth in 1:57.32.<\/p>\n
Diving coach Jeff Schaffer was named the SEC Male Diving Coach of the
\nYear, senior Kelly Marx was named SEC Male Diver of the Year, and Thad
\nEllis was named SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year. Marx also was one
\nof three competitors to earn the SEC's Commissioner's trophy for
\nhigh points scorer for the meet.<\/p>\n
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.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ATHENS, Georgia, February 20. THE Auburn men claimed its record 14th-consecutive Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving title Saturday at the Gabrielsen Natatorium hosted by the University of Georgia. The 14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n