March 19, 2016
Annie Lazor closed out her collegiate swimming career with a 13th-place finish in the 200 breaststroke at the 2016 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday night at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatics Center.
Lazor lowered her prelims time by .12 seconds to 2:08.35 in the finals, .04 short of her personal-best and .13 behind the school record.
"I'm not really that emotional of a person, but I looked at my teammates and, I'm usually pretty serious before my race, but I could not stop smiling" Lazor said of competing in her last swim. "I looked up at my mom and I had to look away because I almost started crying. Even though I'm not done swimming it's my last chance to be a part of a team. I didn't really have that before college so I feel like I appreciate it a lot more. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end it."
Lazor is the first Auburn swimmer to earn All-America honors in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes at a single NCAA Championship since Melanie Roberts in 2008. She is also the first Auburn swimmer to swim the 200 breaststroke at back-to-back NCAA Championships since Micah Lawrence in 2009 and 2010. Her two All-America honors gives her four in her career.
Earlier in the night in prelims of the 1650, Ashley Neidigh swam a personal-best 16:11.83, which was second-fastest in her heat and moved her up to seventh on the all-time performer's list at Auburn, passing Micah Martindale.
The men's championships begin on Wednesday and will also be held at Georgia Tech.
NCAA Champion & Auburn finishes
200 Breaststroke (prelims/finals)
1. Lilly King (Indiana) -- 2:06.43/2:03.59
12. Annie Lazor -- 2:08.47/2:08.35
1650 Freestyle
1. Leah Smith (UVA) -- 15:32.72
20. Ashley Neidigh -- 16:11.83
33. Zoe Thatcher -- 16:19.38