Oct. 21, 2005
Baton Rouge, La. - The Auburn swimming and diving team's moved to 3-0 on the season on Friday evening in Baton Rouge, La., as AU took to the road for the first time and picked up 19 individual titles en route to defeating the Bayou Bengals, with a combined men and women's score of 285-199. With a score of 150 over LSU's 92, the Auburn men extended its dual meet win streak to 35 and the women led head coach David Marsh to his 100th dual meet victory at AU (AU 135 - LSU 107).
"It is always a proud moment when you accomplish a milestone," commented Marsh. "The most important part of reaching the 100 win plateau is that it is the 100th time representing Auburn in a winning fashion as the university should be represented."
Along with the win, five Tigers swam `B' cut times and divers Steven Segerlin and Lynnsey Segraves qualified for zones, for the second consecutive meet.
"It was a long day of traveling for the team," Marsh said. "I was proud of the team for the way they handled the situation of getting directly off the bus, warming up quickly and being ready to compete after that. We had some strong swims today on both the men and women's side. James Wike had good swims in both the 200 breast and 200 IM and for the women, Blakeley Bunch won her first collegiate competition in the 1000 free. Margo McCawley showed us this evening that she is ready to compete at a higher level of competition."
Newcomer James Wike picked up his third collegiate victory but the first in the 200 breast and 200 IM (1:51.21). His 200 breast time of 2:00.39 was also a `B' cut performance; the only AU male to make an NCAA cut at the meet. The AU men swept the 500 free with Daniel Slocki coming in first in a time of 4:37.31. Jeff Smith (4:42.78) and Joey Schneider (4:43.59) completed the sweep of the event.
Diver Segerlin, who already qualified for zones at last weekend's Indiana meet, again turned in zone qualifying scores and victories on the 1- (341.47) and 3-meter (354.45) springboard's. The Auburn 400 free relay (3:04.88) and 400 medley relay (Doug Van Wie, David Maras, Bryan Lundquist and Schneider) team's took home victories.
On the women's side, Emily Kukors took home win's in the 100 and 200 free's and another `B' cut performance in the 200 (1:49.61). Two AU women picked up `B' cut marks in the 400 IM, as Adrienne Binder won the event (4:18.49) and Julie Stupp (4:21.83) finished second. Newcomer Alicia Jensen completed the AU sweep in the 400 IM as she was third. Newcomer Margo McCawley not only picked up her first collegiate victory but also earned the `B' mark with a time of 2:01.41 in the 200 back.
Diver Segraves turned in another zone qualifying score on the 1-meter (258.67) to finish second. She came in third on the 3-meter with a score of 230.11. The women's relay teams - 400 medley (Jeri Moss, Jensen, Danielle LeClair, Kukors - 3:47.54) and 400 free (Jana Kolukanova, McCawley, Stupp, Kara Nelson - 3:28.65) had winning swims as well.
Along with McCawley's victory in the 200 back, two other AU freshmen women took home individual wins. In the 1000 free, Blakeley Bunch swam 10:09.87 for the win and Danielle LeClair won the 200 fly with a time of 2:03.84.
The Auburn men and women return to action on Nov. 11-12 at the University of Virginia where the men take on UVA, Penn State and Purdue and the women are set to face UVA and Penn State.
Complete results from the LSU meet can be found on www.auburntigers.com