Dec. 4, 2016
Peter Holoda swam a 42.69 to win the 100 free as Auburn's men's swimming and diving team finished third at the Georgia Invitational. Auburn, which is ranked 17th, scored 656 points to finish behind No. 6 California (859 pts) and No. 13 Georgia (710 pts) and ahead of Virginia (608.5 pts), Florida State (539.5 pts) and No. 10 Michigan (503 pts).
"It was a really trying performance for the men overall. We are certainly happy with the meet and we are heading in the right direction," head coach Brett Hawke said. "I was very satisfied to finish third against some really strong competition considering we came into the meet totally unrested. There were a lot of season-best times and that puts us in good position heading into Christmas training."
Holoda's swim, off of a 43.18 in the prelims, is currently the ninth-fastest 100 free in the nation. He was one of five Auburn swimmers to swim a night-time final of the 100, joining Zach Apple (44.21, 13th), Ziv Kalontarov (44.30, 14th), Grady Ottomeyer (44.43, 16th) and Kyle Darmody, who won the C Final in 43.84.
After winning the 3-meter on Saturday, Scott Lazeroff returned to take second on the platform on Sunday, scoring a 359.50. Pete Turnham finished fourth (309.90) and Justin Checchin was 11th (217.40).
"I thought we dived a little tired and weren't as competitive as I'd like to see," diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Scott's second place looks great but he had two dives that scored only 4.0 and 4.5. He was 70 points off his last platform competition. Pete executed four solid dives but his back and reverse optionals were off the mark."
Joe Patching swam a 1:42.50 to finish fifth in the 200 backstroke. Taylor Copeland, who swam a 1:45.29 in the morning, placed 12th with a 1:45.72 while Joshua Booth was 20th (1:46.86) and David Crossland was 21st (1:47.01).
Michael Duderstadt shaved almost two seconds off his prelims time to place third in the 200 breaststroke in 1:55.53. Tommy Brewer finished 11th (1:58.04) and Bryar Long was 18th in a personal-best 2:00.07.
Luis Martinez placed eighth in the 200 fly in 1:45.37 after touching in 1:44.52 during the morning. Hugo Morris went 1:45.92 at night to place 11th while Foster Ballard went 1:48.64 after a 1:47.63 to finish 16th. Julien Pinon was 20th (1:49.96).
Alec Morris was Auburn's top finisher in the mile, swimming a 15:28.66 to finish 10th. Bryan Lee (15:35.73) and Russell Noletto (15:36.28) finished 16th and 17th, respectively, while Grant Schenk was 19th (15:39.35) and Daniel McGee 23rd (16:13.20).
Auburn closed out the meet with a sixth-place finish in the 400 free relay (2:53.67).
The women's diving team also competed at the event. On Sunday Alison Maillard was Auburn's top finisher on the platform, placing sixth (231.50), one spot ahead of Maddie Cox (212.70). Claire Schuermann was 12th (195.10) and Miranda Telmanik was 15th (185.25).
"The women were consistent but need to increase their degree of difficulty to improve their scoring potential, which is what we'll focus on," Shaffer said. "We also need to be better at finishing our dives, since the last thing the judges see is the entry. You can earn points or deductions based on the finish of the dive."
Auburn's swimmers are done competing for the fall and will next be in the competition pool on Jan. 7 when Texas A&M visits the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
Auburn's divers will play host to the Auburn Diving Invitational from Dec. 17-19 and compete at the Tennessee Collegiate Diving Invitational Jan. 3-5.
