Sept. 18, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn swimming and diving team unofficially opened up the preseason with its annual Orange and Blue meet Friday at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.
Split into Orange and Blue teams, the squads put together an exciting competition, seeing the Blue team come away with a 178-131 victory.
Head swimming and diving coach Brett Hawke, in his first full year at the helm of the Tiger program, was happy with the meet overall.
"We saw a lot more speed than we'd normally see at this time of year, which is very exciting," Hawke said. "I'm really happy with the fitness levels that our athletes were showing."
The meet featured 12 events and was broken down in to relay and elimination races. The eliminations featured four swimmers and at the 50-yard mark, one swimmer was eliminated until it came down to the final two.
"The set up of the meet was designed for a lot of team-building situations," Hawke said. "The team chemistry was great and both squads fully supported each other throughout the meet.
"It was good to see where we are at the start of the season and I think we're off to a great start."
The Tigers hold their final intrasquad meet on Sept. 25 when the team takes part in the Lake Martin meet. Racing begins at 1 p.m.
The reigning NCAA and SEC champion Auburn men, along with the five-time NCAA and SEC champion Tiger women, open up the regular season with a SEC dual meet at LSU on Oct. 23 and also host the War Eagle Invitational, Oct. 23-25.