Nov. 16, 2017
Ashton Ellzey won the 50 free and the Auburn women's swimming and diving team earned a second-place finish in every other event as it leads the Georgia Tech Invitational following Thursday's opening day action at the McAuley Aquatics Center in Atlanta.
"We had a great first day," associate head coach Sergio Lopez said. "We had a few personal best times and a lot of season best times. Our relays swam really fast and then from the 500 free to the 200 IM to the 50 free, I think overall we did a very good job. The team seems very happy and excited and really looking forward to tomorrow. We as coaches feel very good. The team is working really hard and responding very well."
Ellzey sprinted to a season-best 22.35 to out-touch Alabama's Bailey Scott by .01 seconds to win the 50 free in a time that is currently ranked eighth-fastest in the nation. She was also just ahead of teammate Julie Meynen, who took fourth in 22.55, lowering her season best time by .56 seconds.
Ellzey also swam the second leg of the runner-up 200 free relay that clocked a 1:28.76, now the fifth-fastest time in the country and just .05 seconds away from an A cut. The relay was led off by Aly Tetzloff in 22.23, which is fifth-fastest in the country for a 50 free, and was followed by Ellzey (22.10), Robyn Clevenger (22.65) and Meynen, who had an anchor leg of 21.78, second-fastest in the field.
Tetzloff was the first of five Auburn swimmers to race in the 200 IM A Final, touching in 1:58.62. Also placing in the top 10 was Jessica Merritt in fourth (2:00.60), Bailey Nero in fifth (2:00.99), Carly Cummings in eighth (2:02.67) and Caroline Baddock in 10th (2:03.58).
Tetzloff and Meynen would also bookend Auburn's runner-up 400 medley relay. Tetzloff led off with a field-best 53.83 backstroke leg before turning it over to Breanna Roman on the breaststroke (1:01.47). Haley Black handled the fly leg (51.82) before Meynen anchored in 48.09, fastest in the race.
Zoe Thatcher swam a 4:45.27 to take second in the 500 free, which also saw Erin Falconer finish fifth in 4:47.83 and Jaden Bellina finish seventh in 4:52.53, all of which were season-best times by at least eight seconds.
In the diving well, Alison Maillard posted a second-place finish on the 1-meter with a 286.25, which was just over six points off her season-best score. She had advanced to the finals with a third-place showing in prelims with a 276.85. Erin Norton finished seventh with a 242.75 after advancing in sixth with a season-best 246.75.
"Alison and Erin did a solid job," diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "We competed a new dive for Alison which will give her a higher degree of difficulty and higher scoring potential. Although they didn't go as well as I think they can go, in the future I think it's important to give her the opportunity to step up in a meet situation and see if they are ready for conference and NCAA Zone and Championship meets."
Auburn tallied 354.5 points over the first six events to lead second-place Alabama (286 pts) by 68.5 points. Florida State is third (277.5 pts), host Georgia Tech is fourth (241.5 pts) and South Carolina is fifth (208 pts).
Auburn also sent all five of its men's divers to the competition and three of them, Pete Turnham, Scott Lazeroff and Logan Andrews, each advanced to the 3-meter finals. Turnham was third coming out of prelims with a season-best 379.15 while Lazeroff was fifth (358.95) and Andrews sixth (333.00). In the finals it was Lazeroff taking second (365.80), Turnham fifth (347.60) and Andrews sixth (336.05).
"Pete was really strong in prelims and then missed an entry or two in the finals," Shaffer said. "Scott improved his score from prelims to finals and Logan has been very consistent. The one area we need to be more consistent on is finishing our dives. We are getting more competitive from the board to the water but we need to maintain our focus and clean up our entries. That's where are our scores will go from six-and-a-halves to seven-and-a-halves and eights.
"I thought overall we competed well today considering it was our first invitational," Shaffer said. "I was pleased with how they performed in the prelims to put themselves into position to dive in the finals."
Friday's morning prelims session begins at 9:30 am CT and the finals session at 4:30 pm. Friday's events will include the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, women's 1-meter, men's 3-meter, the 200 medley relay and the 800 free relay. All of the sessions will be streamed live on ESPN3.com.