Dec. 6, 2015
ATHENS, Ga. - Bailey Nero lowered her time in the 200 fly by over two seconds and Peter Holoda clocked the fastest time in the 100 free as Auburn placed eight women and seven men in Championship Finals at the UGA Fall Invitational on Sunday morning.
Nero, who had placed her name in Auburn's top-10 in the 200 fly in only her second meet at Auburn with a 1:58.28 against Indiana, went 1:55.89 Sunday morning to take the third-best time into Sunday's finals. She will be joined in the Championship Finals by Alex Merritt, who went 1:59.15. Kristen Muslack (2:01.36) made the B Final and Caroline Baddock (2:02.29) the C Final. Haley Black is the first alternate (2:05.78).
Holoda touched in 42.55 in the 100 free to take the top spot. He is one of three Auburn swimmers in the Championship Finals, joining Kyle Darmody (43.99) and Jacob Molacek (44.14). Zach Apple (44.90) will swim in the B Final and Liam McCloskey (45.03) in the C Final.
The women's 200 backstroke Championship Final will be loaded with Tigers as Baddock (1:53.75), Jillian Vitarius (1:53.76) and Sarah Reynodsl (1:57.14) all advanced. Erin Falconer (1:59.07) will swim in the B Final and Genny Pittman (2:05.06) in the C Final.
Joe Patching is in the A Final of the men's 200 backstroke after touching in 1:42.87. Taylor Copeland (1:46.86), Joshua Booth (1:48.05) and Sam Stewart (1:48.53) each reached the B Final.
Allyx Purcell went 49.24 in the women's 100 free and is seeded seventh in the A Finals. Ashton Ellzey (48.48), Aly Tetzloff (49.63) and Shannon McKernan (50.27) are in the B Final and Breanna Roman (50.54) and Jessica Hodgson (50.66) are in the C Final.
Auburn will have two in the Championship Final of the women's 200 breast in Annie Lazor (2:10.38) and Natasha Lloyd (2:11.77), who are seeded third and sixth. Roman is in the B Final after going 2:17.31 and Beatriz Travalon is in the C Final (2:17.43).
In the men's 200 breaststroke, Michael Duderstadt (1:57.38) is seeded fourth in the A Final and Jordan Jones (2:00.20) and Thomas Brewer (2:01.88) are in the B Final.
The final individual race of the morning saw Hugo Morris (1:44.27) and Arthur Mendes (1:45.10) advance to the A Final of the 200 fly, Foster Ballard advance to the C Final (1:51.76) with Liam McCloskey as the first alternate (1:51.76).
The finals begin at 3 p.m. ET and will also include the 1650 freestyle, platform diving and the 400 free relay.