Oct. 17, 2008
AUBURN - The Auburn swimming teams officially started their 2008-09 season Friday night as they competed in day one of the War Eagle Invitational at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center in Auburn, Ala.
Though the Tigers are the only collegiate team competing in the weekend-long event, many swimmers took to the pool in full force.
Senior and Olympic medalist Matt Targett swam for the NCAA B standard in his 50 freestyle with a time of 19.73 seconds. Though he is considered a sprinter in the water, Targett also took first place in the 500 freestyle, touching in at 4:43.14.
In the men's 200 IM, Sophomore Andrew Mitchell touched first with 1:52.96, and was followed by junior Michael Silva and senior Logan Madson with times of 1:53.02 and 1:55.47, respectively.
In the women's events, freshman Jennifer Von Jouanne came in first place for the 50 freestyle as she posted a time of 23.89 seconds, about one second late of the women's NCAA standard.
For the 200 IM, NCAA champion Ava Ohlgren swam a time of 2:01.55 and just missed the NCAA standard by less than a second.
Juniors Melissa Marik and Ohlgren took the top two places in the women's 500 freestyle as they swam 4:54.38 and 4:55.14, respectively. They were followed by senior Margo McCawley (5:03.51) in the twenty-lap event.
With only three events in the night's lineup, the entire Auburn squad was not active, but will be in tomorrow's continuation of the invitational.
Swimming on Saturday will begin at 9 a.m. for the younger competitors, with the Tigers taking the water at 2 p.m.