March 26, 2009
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Auburn swimming and diving team set two US Open record relay times on way to a second-place finish for day one of the 2009 NCAA Championships. Juniors Pascal Wollach and Kelly Marx also set new school records along the way.
The championships are a three-day meet held, March 26-28, at the Texas A&M Student Rec Center Natatorium in College Station, Texas.
Auburn concluded the day with 141 points, trailing only Texas with 171. Behind Auburn are Stanford (130), Florida (107) and Cal (103).
"We wanted to win both relays," said Auburn co-head men's coach Brett Hawke. "Those guys just stepped up and responded. It was really exciting.
"People thought we peaked at SECs," said Hawke. "We knew as a team we hadn't. We knew, coming into this, it was going to be a dogfight the whole way. We feel like we have a team that can contend. We have to prove ourselves to be champions. There are still two days to do that. I feel pretty good about where we're at right now."
The Auburn sprinters continued their dominance in the 200 FR, winning their eighth title in the event since 1997. Cal took an early lead as Nathan Adrian (18.76) hit the new American 50 free record to start things off. Jakob Andkjaer wasn't far behind, coming in at 18.89. Gideon Louw took the reins for the second leg, giving Auburn its first lead of the race touching in with an 18.33.
Stanford then took the lead as Jason Dunford (18.45) slipped past Kohlton Norys, who hit the wall in 18.67.
Auburn trailed Stanford by two-tenths going into the anchor. SEC Swimmer-of-the-Year Matt Targett left the block and it was all but over. The two-time Olympic medalist stormed passed David Dunford (18.52), clocking an 18.19 and earning Auburn a new NCAA and US Open record time of 1:14.08. Stanford placed second, hitting the wall in 1:14.22.
The old record of 1:14.71 was set by the Auburn team of Cesar Cielo, Targett, Scott Goodrich and Brian Lundquist at the 2007 NCAA Championships.
Just setting one US Open record was obviously not enough for the Tigers as the team of Wollach (45.32), Klein (51.01), McGill (43.99) and Targett (41.07) busted the old US Open record by over a second. The Tigers swam a 3:01.39 to beat out the old mark of 3:02.47 set by Longhorn Aquatics in March of 2006. Stanford set the previous NCAA record in Thursday's prelims, swimming a 3:02.94.
Targett came from behind Stanford's Alex Coville after trailing for the first 75 yards of the anchor leg.
"Matt said he was hurting really bad, looked across and saw the guy next to him," said Hawke. "He just started digging and clawing his way to the front. Once Matt's in the lead, he's not going to give that one up. I felt very confident, coming to the last turn that he was going to get the job done."
The 10-time SEC Champion swam a 19.76 split with a .17 reaction time off the block.
"I saw I was behind and I'm not used to it really," said Targett. "At Auburn, we're trained to win. I couldn't stay behind those guys so I fought as hard as I could. Luckily, we came out on top.
"We have a tough team at Auburn and I know that every single man next to me here on this deck will always give everything he's got to accomplish our goals. It's always been my goal to do the same for them."
Wollach set the new Auburn record during the 400 MR preliminary heat, storming in to the time of 44.90. The Alberta, Canada native set the previous record of 46.04 while taking first at the 2009 SEC Championships in Auburn.
"I just wanted to make sure we had the oppurtunity to final," said Wollach. "That was definitely unexpected. I took a couple seconds off my best time. That's amazing.
"Winning the medley relay was huge for us going into Friday. The momentum we picked up is going to be big heading into the strokes tomorrow."
On the 1-meter springboard, junior Kelly Marx set the all-time Auburn six-dive record en route to a sixth-place finish, earning the Tigers 13 valuable points.
"He followed the plan perfectly," said Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer. "As I said before, the 1-meter is our weaker event. The goal was to come in compete and not worry about what anybody else was throwing around. He ended up with the school record. A great performance setting us up to go into our stronger events over the next few days."
The Overland Park, native topped the 3-year-old record, scoring 386.80. Marx surpassed the 382.80 mark set by Steve Segerlin at the 2008 NCAA Championships.
"Going into finals I had the lowest degree of difficulty so I really had nothing to lose," said Marx. "I just went all out and trusted myself - trusted Jeff. Everything we've been through this year finally paid off.
"We do get better as we get to the higher dives. I can't wait for that. It's just the beginning."
Auburn picked up 11 points in the 200 IM finals compliments 11th- and 12th- place finishes from junior Tyler McGill and senior Logan Madson. McGill hit the wall in 1:43.79 with Madson right on his heels in 1:44.09.
Matt Targett placed third in the 50 free finals, touching in with a time of 18.87 behind Cal's Nathan Adrian (18.71) and Texas' James Ferguson (18.84). Targett's SEC Championship time of 18.52 remains the fastest 50-yard freestyle this season.
The Tigers picked up 37 points in the 50 free finals as 2008 Junior College National Champion Gideon Louw placed sixth, at 19.06, and Jakob Andkjaer tied for ninth in 18.96.
Following the 200 IM, Auburn was in fifth place with 51 points - 27 behind leader Texas. The 50 free changed all that, moving the Tigers up the ladder into second place. With platform diving and the 400 MR to go, Auburn trailed the Longhorns, 107-88. Cal was just one point behind in third.
Earlier in the day, Madson destroyed his previous career best time by over two seconds to lead all Tigers in the 200 IM prelims. The Bend, Ore., native won his heat with a 1:44.06 out of lane two, advancing to finals in 14th.
Action resumes at noon CST with prelims in the 200 MR, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 3-meter springboard.
For live results, visit http://www.aggieathletics.com/ncaawsimstats.html. Also, the 2009 NCAA Championship Central website can be accessed via http://www.aggieathletics.com/ncaa2009/swimming/men/index.html.
Day 1 Notes
US Open Records
Andkjaer, Louw, Norys, Targett - 200 FR - 1:14.08
Wollach, Klein, McGill, Targett - 400 MR - 3:01.39
NCAA Records
Andkjaer, Louw, Norys, Targett - 200 FR - 1:14.08
Wollach, Klein, McGill, Targett - 400 MR - 3:01.39
Auburn Records
Pascal Wollach - 100 back - 44.90
Andkjaer, Louw, Norys, Targett - 200 FR - 1:14.08
Marx - 1-meter - 386.80
Wollach, Klein, McGill, Targett - 400 MR - 3:01.39
2008-09 Top Times
Andkjaer, Norys, Scheren, Louw - 200 FR - 1:15.42
Jakob Andkjaer - 50 free - 18.83*
Robert Looney - 500 free - 4:19.93*
Logan Madson - 200 IM - 1:44.06*
Jared White - 50 free - 19.38*
Kohlton Norys - 50 free - 19.49*
Pascal Wollach - 100 back - 44.90*
Wollach, Klein, McGill, Targett - 400 MR - 3:01.39
*- Denotes career best