Oct. 9, 2015
Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF)
The Auburn swimming and diving teams swept their dual meet season openers at Alabama on Friday, beating the Tide 158-142 on the men's side and 192-108 on the women's side.
"It was a very competitive meet," head coach Brett Hawke said. "It came down to the last race for the men. The women performed well throughout and ran away with it at the end. I thought overall we performed really well as a team. Depth was good for us today and our stars really showed up for us when we needed them."
Auburn's women started the meet strong winning the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:39.39. Ashley Neidigh pulled through for a win in the 1650 relay. Senior Jillian Vitarius had a strong showing in the 100-yard backstroke touching the wall first with a time of 54.76, and Caroline Baddock taking third with a time of 55.61.
Freshman Bailey Nero got her first win at Auburn in the 200-yard butterfly coming in at 1:58.49. The women had a strong showing in the 50-yard freestyle sweeping the Tide with Allyx Purcell, Ashton Ellzey and Aly Tetzloff earning 1-2-3 wins with times of 22.59, 22.81 and 23.23.
The 500-free was also a strong race for the Auburn women. Zoe Thatcher got the win clocking in at 4:51.82 followed by Erin Falconer touching the wall at 4:52.99 and Michelle Turek with a time of 4:56.53. Freshmen Tetzloff and Nero finished the 100-butterfly getting first and second place finishes with times of 54.01 and 54.87.
"Jillian Vitarius was really a standout for us winning both backstrokes," Hawke said. "A few of the freshmen performed really well with Tetzloff winning the 100-butterfly and Nero winning the 200-butterfly. Zoe Thatcher also won a great race for us with the 500-freestyle."
In diving, sophomore Maddie Cox got the win for Auburn in the 1-meter, posting a score of 270.75, followed by senior Morgan Mullins receiving a score of 269.72. Carly Scheper won the 3-meter with a score of 292.35, with Mullins placing second with a score of 278.02.
For the Auburn men Grant Schenk, Alec Morris and Russell Noletto finished 1-2-3 in the men's 1650 relay with times of 15:39.13, 15:42.72 and 15:50.26. Michael Duderstadt won the 100-yard breaststroke touching the wall at 53.51, with Zach Warner taking third.
Joe Patching won three events, touching first in the 200 free, 200 back and 400 IM.
"He (Patching) was definitely the star of the show for us today," said Hawke.
Kyle Darmody had a huge first place finish in the 100-yard freestyle beating the defending national champion from Alabama with a time of 44.56.
The men posted strong scores in diving with senior Justin Youtsey getting a dominating win in the 1-meter with a score of 337.50. Placing second was sophomore Pete Turnham earning a score of 322.80. Turnham and Youtsey received second and third place finishes for the Tigers on the 3-meter with scores of 332.02 and 312.90.
The Tigers will return to action Nov. 7, at home against Indiana.