March 23, 2016
Auburn's 800 freestyle relay team took home an eighth-place finish as action got underway at the 2016 Men's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center on Wednesday night.
Hugo Morris led off the relay with a 1:34.13 split and was followed by Arthur Mendes (1:33.86). Peter Holoda (1:35.03) and Joe Patching (1:33.09) as Auburn finished seventh in its heat in 6:16.11.
"It gets us in the meet and I'm happy, the guys split well," Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said. "I think we are one split away from the school record (6:15.14). It's a solid start and the guys should get a lot of confidence going into the first full day of swimming tomorrow."
Individual events begin on Thursday morning with 9 a.m. CT prelims. Events contested will be the 200 freestyle relay, the 500 freestyle, the 200 IM, the 50 freestyle, the 400 medley relay and 1-meter diving. Finals start at 5 p.m.
"We have really strong relays tomorrow," Hawke said. "We are looking at coming in and competing as a team and putting our best effort out in the morning."
Texas stands in first place after a NCAA and American record in the 800 free relay in 6:08.03. NC State finished second (6:09.58), Florida third (6:09.84), California fourh (6:11.30) and Georgia fifth (6:12.54).
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