Dec. 2, 2016
Pete Turnham went into the finals in eighth place and came out the winner of the men's 1-meter as action got underway at the Georgia Invitational on Friday. No. 17 Auburn is in third place of the three-day invitational, just 50 pints behind first-place California.
"The team has performed very well for not resting and not shaving, just putting on suits," Associate head coach Sergio Lopez said. "Just about everyone swam season-best times and a couple of career-best times. It's very exciting how the team is staying together. We are in a good spot and all the coaches are very happy."
California leads the team competition with 259 points, Georgia is in second with 223 points and Auburn is third with 209 points.
Turnham had scored a 292.90 during his six-dive prelims before returning at night to post a 314.20 to claim the top-spot in the 17-person competition.
"Pete's win was a bright spot on a rather disappointing day (for the divers)," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Pete came from eighth to first and Scott (Lazeroff) had a chance to put Auburn 1-2 but did a poor final round dive to drop him to fifth (296.35)."
Auburn picked up a pair of third-place finishes in the relays, going 1:17.88 in the 200 free relay and 3:08.73 in the 400 medley relay.
Zach Apple and Peter Holoda finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the finals of the 50 free. Apple went 19.61 in the finals after a 19.82 in prelims while Holoda went 19.62 in finals, the same as his prelims time.
Ziv Kalontarov won the consolation finals of the 50 free with a career-best 19.94. Kyle Darmody finished 11th (20.07) and Michael Duderstadt was 15th (20.25).
Joe Patching won the consolation finals of the 200 IM in 1:44.93. Tommy Brewer placed 20th (1:47.17) and Duderstadt was 21st (1:47.47).
Hugo Morris was the top Auburn finisher in the 500 free, swimming a 4:24.04 to place 10th. Russell Noletto placed 16th (4:25.53), Alec Morris was 19th (4:26.87) and Grant Schenk was 23rd (4:29.00).
Auburn's women's divers are also competing and it was Maddie Cox bringing home a third-place finish on the 3-meter with a finals score of 285.00.
"Hopefully our performance will empower our team to improve their level of focus and competitiveness tomorrow and Sunday and provide a great learning experience in our quest to reach our fullest potential," Shaffer said.
The second day of the invitational takes place begins at 8:30 a.m. CT on Saturday with finals slated for 4 p.m. Contested on Saturday will be the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 200 medley relay, 800 free relay, men's 3-meter and women's 1-meter.
Live results are available at georgiadogs.com.