Jan. 8, 2015
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| 2014-15 Schedule
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn swimming and diving came up short in its first dual meet of 2015, as the No. 10 Tiger men fell, 156-135, to No. 1 Texas while the 12th-ranked Auburn women dropped a 174-126 decision Thursday in its home pool to the No. 6 Longhorns.
The loss marked the first defeat of the 2014-15 season for the Auburn women (6-1-1), while the men's record dropped to 3-3. Joe Patching and Allyx Purcell doubled for the Tigers against Texas.
"There was definitely some tired swimming," head coach Brett Hawke said. "When you're in the middle of Christmas training you don't ever know what you're going to get. I felt like there was a couple of close races, again, that I would have liked to have won. We came up against two really strong teams today and I felt at times we fought really hard to compete."
Auburn's women turned in a pair of strong performances in the relay events against the Longhorns. The Tigers opened the meet with a convincing victory in the 200 medley relay as Jillian Vitarius, Beatriz Travalon, Megan Fonteno and Purcell claimed first with a time of 1:39.27 - nearly a second ahead of the Longhorns.
In the women's 400 freestyle relay, Purcell, Fonteno, Alex Merritt and Valerie Hull held off the Longhorns to earn the victory, touching in at 3:19.71.
Purcell earned two individual wins against the Longhorns, sweeping the sprint freestyle events. The sophomore clocked a 22.64 to take first in the 50 free and followed that up with a 49.39 to win going away in the 100 free.
Natasha Lloyd claim two runner-up finishes in the breaststroke events. The sophomore went 1:01.39 in the 100 breast and posted a 2:14.27 in the 200 breast. Alex Merritt was second overall in the 100 fly, touching the wall at 54.81. Ashley Neidigh also provided the Tigers with a second-place finish in the 1,000 free (9:53.72), while Hull was the runner-up in the 200 free (1:49.94).
The quartet of Joe Patching, Michael Duderstadt, Arthur Mendes and Jacob Molacek went 1:28.03 in the 200 medley relay on the men's side, taking second to open the meet for Auburn.
The Tiger men finished the meet on a positive note, grabbing the win in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 2:57.38. Molacek's anchor split of 43.4 in the final 100 allowed the Tigers to earn the win.
Joe Patching grabbed the victory in the men's 200 back, closing strong to touch the wall in 1:44.83. The sophomore has earned eight individual wins, picking up his third of the year in the 200 back. Patching took second in a fast 100 back heat on the men's side, posting a 48.68 as first through third were just over a half second apart.
Patching also led the Tigers to a 1-2-3 finish in the men's 200 IM as the sophomore clocked a 1:47.78 to earn his second win of the day. Jordan Jones' 1:50.39 was good enough for second overall, while Alex Hancock touched in at 1:51.01. Hancock also turned in a 48.05 to place second in the 100 fly.
Dudertstadt collected his second win of the season in the 100 breast, touching the wall at 54.10 to take first overall. The sophomore just missed completing the sweep of the breaststroke events, posting a time of 1:58.38 to place second overall in the 200 breast.
Tommy McKee (500 free - 4:36.21) and Kyle Darmody (50 free - 20.50) also earned second-place finishes for the Auburn men against the Longhorns.
In diving, Fraser McKean continued his recent run of strong performances by winning the 3-meter competition with a score of 401.63. The senior posted a list of 364.43 in the men's 1-meter event to take second place. McKean has 11 individual victories this season, including six on the 3-meter board.
Justin Youtsey's 383.25 set a personal record for the junior on 3-meter.
Cinzia Calabretta was Auburn's top-finisher in both women's diving events. The senior took second to begin the day on the 3-meter board, scoring 304.95. Calabretta posted a six-dive list of 269.33 in the women's 1-meter final. Carly Scheper also finished third with a score of 300.53. in the 3-meter competition.
Auburn welcomes SEC rival Florida to the James E. Martin Aquatics Center for its final home meet of the regular season on Saturday, Jan. 24. Start time is set for 11 a.m. CT and the meet will broadcasted live on the SEC Network +. Auburn will honors its eight seniors prior to the start of the competition.
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