March 5, 2006
Auburn, Ala. - Six Auburn men swam career best times on Sunday afternoon at the James E. Martin Qualifier as the No. 1 Tiger men competed for the final time before traveling to Atlanta, Ga., for the NCAA Championships on March 23-25.
The AU 200 medley relay of James Wike (22.35), David Maras (24.25), Alexei Puninski (20.49) and George Bovell (19.14) turned in the automatic qualifier with a season best time of 1:26.23, the fourth fastest time in the nation. On the breaststroke and butterfly legs, Maras and Puninski posted the fastest splits of the season in this event.
Five Tigers earned lifetime best marks as Andrew Callahan (400 IM), Luke Weniger (100 fly), Joey Schneider (200 free), Sean Osborne (200 breast), John Scott (200 fly) and Jon Roberts (200 breast) improved their provisional qualifying times as well.
Callahan swam a 3:50.31 in the 400 IM for a .60 improvement from his previous career best which he earned at the SEC Championships this February. In the 100 fly, Weniger just narrowly missed the automatic qualifier as he swam a 47.28 just .03 off the `A' cut time. It was a .62 improvement from the previous personal best.
In the 200 free, Schneider was just off the `A' cut time (1:35.60), but bettered his provisional qualifying time to 1:36.16, also a lifetime best for the junior. Osborne swam just under a second PR in the 200 breast for the improved `B' cut - 1:58.76. In the 200 fly, Scott swam a 1:45.59, less than half a second off the automatic mark, but a reduced `B' cut and career best time. Roberts closed out the day in the 200 breast time trial, going 1:58.80, for a one second improvement on his `B' cut from the SEC Championships.
Also having season high swims were Daniel Slocki (500 free), Rory Connell (200 fly) and Weniger (50 free).
The Tigers competed for the final time on Sunday before traveling to Atlanta, Ga., for the 2006 NCAA Championships, where AU is the three-time defending national champion.
Complete results are available on the Auburn web site at www.auburntigers.com