Oct. 21, 2017
Auburn split a its dual meets with Texas A&M on Saturday, winning 162-138 on the men's side but falling 171-122 in the women's meet.
"It was another day of solid racing for us," Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said. "We are deep into our training cycle and we have been training hard for the past seven weeks now. Overall I'm very pleased with our progression."
Auburn's distance trio of Bryan Lee, Grant Shenk and Russell Noletto had a solid afternoon of swims, finishing 1-3-4 in both the 1000 and 500 freestyles.
Lee took top honors in the 1000 (9:18.46) and was third in the 500 (4:33.60) while Noletto won the 500 (4:30.88) and was fourth in the 1000 (9:32.87). Shenk went 9:28.82 in the 500 to take fourth and 4:35.65 in the 1000 to take third.
"Hats off to the distance swimmers, I felt like they won the meet for us today," Hawke said. "The 1000 and 500 frees were big momentum swings."
Peter Holoda and Zach Apple finished 1-3 in both the 50 and 100 freestyles. Holoda touched in 20.23 in the 50 and 44.22 in the 100 while Apple touched in 20.34 in the 50 and 44.68 in the 100. The duo were also a part of the winning 400 free relay, which went 2:56.58 behind Apple (44.21), Owen Upchurch (44.34), Hugo Morris (44.66) and Holoda (43.37).
Apple picked up an individual win in the 200 free in 1:38.15, just out-touching Upchurch, who was second in 1:38.25.
Luis Martinez swept the butterfly events, winning the 200 in 1:47.48 and the 100 in 47.66. He was the first of a 1-2-3 Auburn sweep in the 100 with Santiago Grassi taking second (48.18) and Hugo Morris third (48.66). Grassi also took third in the 200 (1:49.03).
Hugo Gonzalez rounded out the individual wins on the men's side with a 1:47.66.
On the women's side, Auburn earned six wins, with Aly Tetzloff picking up three of them.
"Aly Tetzloff was sensational today, winning three events against one of the best teams in the country," Hawke said.
Tetzloff took first in the 100 back (53.37), the 100 fly (53.16) and 200 IM (2:00.43).
Auburn also took the top spot in the 400 free relay behind the swims of Erin Falconer (51.07), Julie Meynen (50.10), Ashton Ellzey (50.81) and Jessica Merritt (50.76). Ellzey (22.84) and Meynen (23.19) also took second and third, respectively, in the 50 free while Meynen was second in the 100 free (49.24).
In the diving well, sophomore Alison Maillard swept the springboard events, winning the 1-meter with a season-best score of 289.88 and the 3-meter with a 313.43.
"I thought Alison was strong again in winning both events," diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "She had a couple of minor errors that we need to focus on but it was another set of Zone Diving scores for her."
Freshman Erin Norton picked up a Zone score on the 3-meter for the second week in a row, scoring a 281.40.
For the men, Scott Lazeroff returned after missing the first weekend due to injury and posted a 321.90 on the 1-meter and a 369.68 on the 3-meter, both of which were Zone scores. Pete Turnham scored a season-high 349.43 on the 3-meter and a 327.83 on the 1-meter, also both Zone scores.
"It was nice to have Scott back and competing coming off an injury," Shaffer said. "He was able to post two zone scores, which was positive. Pete did some great dives and just made a couple of mistakes that we need to focus on and correct. A&M's guys are very strong but we're not that far behind when we don't make mistakes."
Auburn remains at home next week, facing Alabama at 1 p.m. on Friday at the Martin Aquatics Center. The meet will be the final home dual meet for Auburn's senior class.