March 26, 2011
MINNEAPOLIS - The Auburn men's swimming and diving team advanced four swimmers and a relay to Saturday night's finals at the 2011 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.
Saturday's preliminary session opened with Auburn's Kyle Owens and Max Murphy advancing to the consolation finals in the 200 back. Owens tied for eighth in a time of 1:42.04, but lost his swim-off with Texas' Cole Cragin, swimming a 1:44.43. Murphy finished 10th in prelims with a time of 1:42.14.
Also competing in the event was senior Kohlton Norys, finishing 20th with a time of 1:43.30. The times for Norys and Murphy in the prelim were both season-best times.
The Tigers advanced two swimmers to the championship final in the 100 free. Senior Adam Brown clocked a 41.75 to take the top seed in the event. His time ranks third all-time at Auburn, behind only Cesar Cielo and Matt Targett.
Marcelo Chierighini finished third in the prelim with a time of 42.26. Four other Tigers competed in the 100 free: Karl Krug (21st, 43.32), Drew Modrov (33rd, 43.61), T.J. Leon (41st, 44:06) and Chris Manning (42nd, 44.14).
In the 200 breast, senior Adam Klein will be the first alternate for tonight's finals as he finished 17th in a time of 1:55.43. Stuart Ferguson finished 32nd in the event in a time of 1:58.61.
In the final swimming event of the preliminary session, Auburn took second in the 400 free relay with a time of 2:49.73. The Tigers trailed only California in the prelim as the Bears clocked in at 2:49.61. Brown swam an anchor leg of 41.16 second for the Tigers, the fastest 100-yard split of anyone in the field.
In the platform diving preliminary, senior Dan Mazzaferro finished ninth with a score of 371.55. He was just 1.1 points away from advancing to the championship final.
Action at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships continues at 7 p.m., tonight with finals in the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 1650 free, 400 free relay and platform diving. Fans can follow along with live results at GopherSports.com and a free live streaming video at www.ESPN3.com.
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