Nov. 7, 2015
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AUBURN, Ala. -- The Auburn swimming and diving teams opened the home schedule Saturday and came away with wins over Indiana in James E. Martin Aquatic Center. The women topped the Hoosiers 169.5-130.5, while the men earned a 184.5-115.5 win.
"The team is training exceptionally well right now," head coach Brett Hawke said. "I'm really impressed how they came together and competed collectively. They fought for every position and it really shows the toughness of the team right now."
Junior Joe Patching & senior Jillian Vitarius earned sweeps in the backstroke events as each picked up a pair of wins. Patching recorded NCAA "B" times in both the 100 back and 200 back, winning in 47.52 and 1:43.59, respectively. Vitarius also notched two "B" times, winning the ÂÂbackstroke events in 54.15 and 1:57.58.
Patching won his third event of the day in the 200 individual medley. The ÂEscot, England, product finished almost three seconds ahead of second place with a 1:46.78.
Junior Michael Duderstadt also had a stellar performance, picking up the sweep in the breaststroke events and a pair of "B" times. He recorded a season-best time of 52.98 to win the 100 breast and followed with a 1:57.83 in the 200 breast to finish first.
The swimmers opened the meet with victories in the 200 medley relay. The Auburn women finished first and second in the event with the team of Vitarius, senior Beatriz Travalon, sophomore Ashton Ellzey and junior Allyx Purcell took first with a time of 1:40.12.
The quartet of junior Kyle Darmody, Duderstadt, senior Arthur Mendes and sophomore Jacob Molacek clocked first in the 200 medley with a season-best time of 1:27.24.
Sophomore Hugo Morris shaved three seconds of his previous season-best time in the 200 fly to win in a "B" time of 1:44.93. He followed with another win in 500 free, touching the wall in 4:24.25 for his second "B" time of the meet.
Junior Ashley Neidigh and sophomore Zoe Thatcher went 1-2 in the women's 1000 free, coming in at 9:47.91 and 9:56.83, respectively. Freshman Erin Falconer earned the first win of her collegiate career, taking first in the 500 free with season-best time of 4:51.36
Auburn women swept the 50 free as Ellzey (22.61), Purcell (22.74) and freshman Aly Tetzloff (23.29) finished 1-2-3. Ellzey and Purcell each notched "B" times in the event.
Purcell and Ellzey kept the wins coming for the sprinters as they took first and second in the 100 free with times of 49.90 & 50.15, respectively.
Auburn earned another sweep on the day, coming in the men's 100 fly. Sophomore Luis Carlos Martinez (47.95), Mendes (48.22) and freshman Liam McCloskey (48.96) took the top three spots to secure big points for the Tigers.
Diver Justin Youtsey had a solid day on the boards as the senior finished first on the 1-meter (343.58) and second on the 3-meter (353.33). On the women's side. Seniors Carly Scheper and Morgan Mullins finished 1-2 on the 3-meter with scores of 285.08 and 283.80.
The Tigers finished the meet with a pair of wins in the 400 free relay. The quartet of Purcell, Ellzey, Tetzloff and Falconer touched first 3:22.47. The group of Duderstadt, Darmody, Holoda and Mendes took the men's 400 free relay with a time of 2:55.57.
Auburn's divers will take part in the Georgia Tech Diving Invitational, Nov. 19-22, in Atlanta, Ga., to close out the month of November. December will find Auburn at the AT&T Winter Nationals and the Georgia Invitational to start the month and the Auburn Fall Diving Invitational to close out the fall semester.