GAINESVILLE, FL, February 19. AUBURN reports it believes it has put itself back into a position to defend its Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving titles, Men and Women, with a stellar performance in Saturday\u2019s preliminaries.<\/p>\n
The men, who enter tonight\u2019s finals with a 22-point lead over Florida, will bring back all 14 swimmers tonight, with 10 of those swimming in the championships finals. The Auburn women, who trail leader Georgia by 19-points in the overall standings, will bring back all 16 swimmers, 14 of which will swim in the championship finals.<\/p>\n
\tThe most loaded event on the men\u2019s side is the 100 freestyle where senior Ryan Wochomurka will lead a quartet of Tigers into finals. The Columbus, Ind., native went 43.34 to claim the top seed while defending champion senior Fred Bousquet is fourth with a 43.57, junior George Bovell is fifth at 43.71 and sophomore Bryan Lundquist is sixth with a personal-best 43.73. Swimming in the consolation finals will be junior Kurt Cady, who qualified 12th at 44.43.<\/p>\n
\tThe most loaded women\u2019s race will be the 200 backstroke where defending champion and 2004 Olympic gold medalist senior Kirsty Coventry is the top seed at 1:54.50. The next three Tigers will all swim on the same side of the pool as junior Jeri Moss touched in a personal-best time of 1:56.01 (bettering her previous best by two seconds) to seed herself third, Erin Volcan is fifth after a 1:56.73 morning swim and sophomore Tawnie Bethune is seventh with a 1:58.39.<\/p>\n
\tThe men\u2019s 200 backstroke will also be Tiger-heavy as Chad Barlow (1:43.70) and 2005 SEC 100 backstroke champion Doug Van Wie (1:44.11) qualified second and third, respectively. Sophomore Joey Schnedier dropped five seconds off of his personal best to qualify sixth at 1:45.52 while freshman Scott Goodrich went a personal-best 1:49.41 in qualifying 15th.<\/p>\n
\tThe women\u2019s 100 free also should be a good race amongst a quartet of Tigers. Freshman Emily Kukors, who finished third in the 200 free last night, is seeded third with a 49.10, the third-fastest time in Auburn history. Seeded in the next three spots is freshman Kara Denby, who stopped the clock at 49.22, which ranks fifth on Auburn\u2019s all-time list, junior Jana Kolukanova in fifth at 49.27, also a personal-best, and junior Leslie Lunsmann in sixth with a personal-best 49.48. Senior Jenni Anderson will swim in the consolation finals after qualifying 12th at 50.12.<\/p>\n
\tBethune, who medaled in the 100 fly last night, surprised two-time defending champion Mary DeScenza in the 200 fly to claim the top seed at 1:55.53. She is joined by senior Margaret Hoelzer (1:57.94) and freshman Kristen Hastrup (1:58.83), who is seeded fourth and seventh, respectively. Senior Alessandra Lawless is seeded ninth at 1:59.90.<\/p>\n
\tAuburn placed three swimmers in the top eight of the women\u2019s 200 breaststroke with freshman Julie Stupp clocking a 2:14.50, a personal-best, to sit fourth. Sophomore Anne Amardeilh is sixth at 2:14.69, also a personal-best, and junior Lauren Duerk is eighth with a 2:15.18.<\/p>\n
\tThe men\u2019s 200 fly will have Chad Barlow in fifth at 1:46.08 and Rory Connell at sixth at 1:46.71 and Mark Johnson at 11th with a 1:47.62.<\/p>\n
\tThe men\u2019s 200 breaststroke rounded out the morning swims and will have junior Eric Shanteau seeded second at 1:58.71 and sophomore Sean Osborne ninth at 2:01.27.<\/p>\n
\tTo break the numbers down, Auburn\u2019s 14 and 10 on the men\u2019s side is just slightly ahead of Florida\u2019s 11 and seven while AU\u2019s 16 and 14 on the women\u2019s side leads Georgia\u2019s 14 and 10. The unknown will be the 1650 freestyles where Auburn has a total of four men\u2019s swimmers entered and Florida eight, five in the last heat, while AU\u2019s women have two in the last heat and Georgia has four, spread evenly between the last two heats.<\/p>\n
\tThe 400 free relay will be the last event of the night and could hold the key to the title along with it. The Auburn women have won that event the last two years at SECs but are seeded over three full seconds behind Georgia while on the men\u2019s side, Auburn is also the two-time defending champion and is seeded ahead of Florida by over two-and-a-half seconds.<\/p>\n
2005 SEC Swimming Championships
\nDay Four Prelims
\nAuburn Finishes<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200 Backstroke
\n2.\tChad Barlow\t\t1:43.70
\n3.\tDoug Van Wie\t\t1:44.11
\n6.\tJoey Schneider\t\t1:45.52
\n15.\tScott Goodrich\t\t1:49.41<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200 Backstroke
\n1.\tKirsty Coventry\t\t1:54.50
\n3.\tJeri Moss\t\t1:56.01
\n5.\tErin Volcan\t\t1:56.73
\n7.\tTawnie Bethune\t\t1:58.39<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 100 Freestyle
\n1.\tRyan Wochomurka\t43.34
\n4.\tFred Bousquet\t\t43.57
\n5.\tGeorge Bovell\t\t43.71
\n6.\tBryan Lundquist\t\t43.73
\n12.\tKurt Cady\t\t44.43
\n\tWesley Flatt\t\t44.55
\n\tSeth Barry\t\t45.15<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 100 Freestyle
\n3.\tEmily Kukors\t\t49.10
\n4.\tKara Denby\t\t49.22
\n5.\tJana Kolukanova\t\t49.27
\n6.\tLeslie Lunsmann\t\t49.48
\n12.\tJenni Anderson\t\t50.12
\n\tChristina Swindle\t\t50.26<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200 Breaststroke
\n2.\tEric Shanteau\t\t1:58.71
\n9.\tSean Osborne\t\t2:01.27
\n\tDavid Maras\t\t2:01.57<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200 Breaststroke
\n4.\tJulie Stupp\t\t2:14.50
\n6.\tAnne Amardeilh\t\t2:14.68
\n8.\tLauren Duerk\t\t2:15.18<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200 Butterfly
\n5.\tChad Barlow\t\t1:46.08
\n6.\tRory Connell\t\t1:46.71
\n11.\tMark Johnson\t\t1:47.62
\n\tJohn Scott\t\t1:47.51<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200 Butterfly
\n1.\tTawnie Bethune\t\t1:55.53
\n4.\tMargaret Hoelzer\t\t1:58.90
\n7.\tKristen Hastrup\t\t1:58.83
\n9.\tAlessandra Lawless\t1:59.90<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GAINESVILLE, FL, February 19. AUBURN reports it believes it has put itself back into a position to defend its Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving titles, Men and Women, with a<\/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-8970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n