Feb. 15, 2006
Knoxville, Tenn. - With one day completed at the 2006 SEC Championships, the top-ranked Auburn men and women's team have one title and runner-up finish and four automatic qualifying relay times in their possession. For the fifth time in school history, the Auburn men were victorious in the 200 medley relay and junior diver Steve Segerlin improved a place from last year to finish second on 3-meter at the SEC Championships on Wednesday evening in Knoxville, Tenn. AU's men sit in third place with 123 points and the women are in fifth with 101 points.
After a disappointing 200 medley relay at last year's SEC Championship, the AU relay group returned to glory this season as Doug Van Wie, James Wike, Alexei Puninski and Cesar Cielo posted the team's first automatic qualifier of the season with a winning time of 1:26.33. Newcomers Puninski and Cielo were the difference in the relay as the team trailed at the halfway point but made up ground in the fly leg as Puninski turned in the fastest split of the field - 20.61 - to pull the team even. Cielo closed the deal with a blistering 19.10 free split to dominate the field and touch the wall first by a mere one one-hundredth of a second over Tennessee's Octavio Alesi.
"It was a really exciting race," Cielo said. "We were little behind after the first two legs but Alexei did an excellent job in the butterfly to bring us back even. I felt like I did my best and I am very happy. I think this is what we were expecting as the outcome."
"It was good to go out with a win on this first night," head coach David Marsh said. "Last year we didn't win any relays the first night and I think the energy was good for the team and program. I was especially pleased with Alexei, he kind of pulled us back into the race and Cesar brought us home and extended into the touch. One one-hundredth of a second isn't even the length of your fingernail but it makes a big difference in points."
In the diving well, Steve Segerlin took it to the wire with Georgia's Chris Colwill in 3-meter action as the competition came down to the last dive. Segerlin averaged 7.5's with a 3.4 degree of difficulty and was just edged out by Colwill by a 16.10 points. Segerlin turned in a spectacular final dive - a forward 2.5 somersault with two twists (scored 73.10) to put the pressure on Colwill. Colwill stepped up and performed an almost flawless sixth dive to clinch the back-to-back victory.
"Overall I am happy with my performance today," Segerlin said. "This is a hard pool to dive in but I really stepped up in the final and made a few small corrections from prelims and it went well."
"It was nice to see Steve step up and really put the pressure on Chris [Colwill]," Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Chris is one of the strongest divers in the nation, let alone, the SEC Championships. Steve hitting his last dive which forced Chris to be at his best on his last dive to win the contest is exactly what you want to see in a final. The was the first time for Steve to score of 400 points under the new system so we must be doing something right."
On the women's side, Rachel Goh, Julie Stupp, Margo McCawley and Jana Kolukanova finished in a disappointing fourth but earned an automatic qualifier in the process with a time of 1:39.58 and 40 points toward the team total. Kolukanova in the anchor position turned in the fastest 50 free split of the season as she improved her mark by just under a second.
"I thought both our women's relays did a great job today," co-women's head coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said. "Rachel was a little off on the leadoff of the 200 medley relay, I think she was a little nervous. The last three legs did a tremendous job and Jana had her fastest split by quite a bit."
Georgia's Tricia Harm, Sarah Poewe, Mary DeScenza and Kara Lynn Joyce took the 200 medley relay title with an SEC record time of 1:37.78. Coincidentally, the previous record was held by Auburn's Jenni Anderson, Laura Swander, Leslie Lunsmann and Eileen Coparropa, set in 2003.
"The women did a terrific job," Marsh said. "For Julie and Margo who were swimming on this relay for this first time, I thought they did a fantastic job. Jana had her fastest 50 free split by four-tenths. I think we are going to improve quite a bit at the NCAA's in that relay."
The swimming portion of competition closed out with the men and women's 800 free relay and Auburn took third on both sides, each with `A' cut times. Florida's men took the title in a time of 6:21.91 and the Bulldogs were victorious for the women, touching in 7:03.84.
The Tiger women's 800 free relay squad - McCawley, Jeri Moss, Emily Kukors and Adrienne Binder - posted an improved season time by 17 seconds for the automatic qualifier - 7:07.79. In the third position, Kukors swam the fastest split of the field, 1:45.75, which was also the fastest of the season.
"Our first two legs - Margo and Jeri - just gave a phenomenal effort," Tierney-Walker said. "Emily to go 1:45 on the third leg for this time of year and with her focus on NCAAs, I thought that was a great swim. We had Adrienne, a distance swimmer, on the end and for the speed she has I am real pleased with her effort. I though all in all we were very solid today."
On the men's side, the team composed of two senior's - Van Wie and George Bovell - and two freshmen - Anthony Fleming and Jakob Andkjaer - touched the wall in an automatic qualifying time of 6:24.52. Andkjaer posted a 200 free split of 1:35.22, the third strongest of the field.
"We had an excellent first and last leg in the men's 800 free relay," Marsh commented. "George swam a little bit tentative but as the meet continues he will get more aggressive and will factor into this meet more substantially. Overall it was a real good night - not perfect - but better than last year's first day with the two false starts. We just to come back tomorrow and be ready to compete first thing."
Junior Lynnsey Segraves and freshman Corey Lynn Gerlach put the Tiger women's team on the board with a combined 19 points after the 1-meter springboard finals. Segraves posted a personal best 278.05 in the preliminary round and entered the finals in the third position. She started the six-round final strong with a score of 50.40 on her inward 1.5. After five more rounds Segraves ended up with a total of 268.65 and dropped to seventh place.
"Lynnsey did a great job with two solid lists," Shaffer said. "She competed well in a very tough final. This was probably one of the stronger women's finals that we have had in quite some time in the SEC. For her to get in there and put herself in the position to be in the finals, qualifying third with a personal best, and come back in the finals she was a little bit off in a couple of her entries and that changed her point total. I think this was a good start for us."
Segraves was able to gain 16 points for the AU team total which added to teammate Gerlach's three from the prelim round. Gerlach ended up 16th with a season low mark of 226.30.
"Corey had a rough day," Shaffer noted. "She missed a reverse one and a half but came back and had two better dives. She still managed to score some team points. All season long 3-meter has been a better event for Corey so tomorrow she will rebound and come back strong."
Also diving today was freshman Scott Morgan. Morgan competed two new dives and managed of score of 273.95 to finish 13th and earn seven points for the men's team. He will return to action on Thursday on 3-meter, an event where he has already earned the Zone B qualifier.
"Scott did a great job even though he is disappointed. I had to remind him how far he has come since this fall and he just continues to learn how to compete and did a couple new dives and did them well and scored some valuable team points."
Competition resumes tomorrow at the Tennessee Student Aquatic Center at 10 a.m. ET for the preliminaries of the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 200 free relay. Men's 1-meter diving prelim's are set to begin at 1 p.m., followed by women's 3-meter at 2:45 p.m. Final's competition will begin at at 5 p.m. with the men's 1-meter final. Swimming finals will be contested at 6 p.m. All results can be viewed live at the Tennessee athletic web sites at www.utladyvols.com and/or www.utsports.com.
2006 SEC Championships
Event Winner and Auburn Finishes
Women's 1-meter Diving
1. Allison Brennan (USC), 325.80
7. Lynnsey Segraves, 268.65
16. Corey Lynn Gerlach, 226.30
Men's 3-meter Diving
1. Chris Colwill (UGA), 419.80
2. Steve Segerlin, 403.70
13. Scott Morgan, 273.95
Women's 200 Medley Relay
1. Georgia, 1:37.38 (SEC record)
4. Auburn (Goh, Stupp, McCawley, Kolukanova), 1:39.58
Men's 200 Medley Relay
1. Auburn (Van Wie, Wike, Puninki, Cielo), 1:26.33
Women's 800 Free Relay
1. Georgia (DeScenza, Miller, Cole, Joyce), 7:03.84
3. Auburn (McCawley, Moss, Kukors, Binder), 7:07.79
Men's 800 Free Relay
1. Florida (Lochte, Townsend, Hartley, Salatta), 6:21.91
3. Auburn (Van Wie, G. Bovell, Fleming, Andkjaer), 6:24.52