KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Auburn's men's and women's swimming and diving teams both fell in dual meets at Tennessee on Friday, with the women falling 197-103 and the men 233-66.
"I enjoy winning and the team enjoys winning so from that standpoint it was a disappointing loss," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "At the same time I'm really happy with the efforts, the enthusiasm and the fight to the finish that I saw from both squads."
Aly Tetzloff and Sonnele Oeztuerk each earned wins for the Auburn women. Tetzloff won the 200 free in 1:47.41 and Oeztuerk the 200 back in 1:56.62, which was a NCAA B cut time.
Auburn also racked up six runner-up swims, with Erin Falconer taking three of them. Falconer finished in second in the 1,000 free (10:04.69), 100 back (54.55) and 200 back (1:59.99), with her 200 back time being a NCAA B cut time.
"Erin Falconer continues to go above and beyond doing whatever is needed by our staff and team," Taylor said. "She had some really good performances in the backstroke, the 1,000 free and the relay."
Auburn's remaining second-place finishes came from Bailey Nero in the 200 fly (1:58.67), Claire Fisch in the 50 free (22.69) and Tetzloff in the 100 free (49.10), all of which were NCAA B cuts.
On the men's side, Russell Noletto claimed a win in the final individual race, touching in 3:57.13 to win the 400 IM. That was on the heels of a taxing distance triple in which he also placed fifth in the 200 fly (1:51.73) and fourth in the 500 free (4:31.53).
Auburn's men also managed runner-up finishes in the 500 and 1,000 frees out of Josh Dannhauser (4:29.33 and 9:13.93, respectively) and Foster Ballard in the 200 fly (1:49.25). Dannhouser rounded out his day with a fourth-place showing in the 400 IM (4:01.40) while Ballard also picked up a fourth-place finish in the 100 fly (49.35).
"Obviously I'm not excited about the final outcome but in terms of the heart, determination and effort they really showed out and stepped up in a really hard situation," Taylor said. "Sometimes you don't lose, the other team just wins and Tennessee was ready to go."
The Texas men were also at the meet, but did not factor into the scoring of the Auburn-Tennessee meet.
DIVING RECAP
Alison Maillard won the 3-meter for the second time this year, scoring a Zone Qualifying 320.65 to top Tennessee's Rachel Rubadue (303.00) by 17.65 points. She then took second on the 1-meter to Rubadue with a 284.45, also a Zone score. Wendy Espina-Esquivel was third on both the 3-meter (270.25) and the 1-meter (255.30).
"Alison won the 3-meter and was able to reintroduce a front three-and-a-half pike in her list, which greatly increases her degree of difficulty," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Wendy showed continued progress grabbing two third-place finishes and helping the team."
For the men, Conner Pruitt took second on the 3-meter (372.00) and third on the 1-meter (336.10) while Scott Lazeroff was third on the 3-meter (361.20) and fifth on the 1-meter (306.75), with both collecting Zone Qualifying Scores on both boards.
"Really pleased and proud of Conner Pruitt's efforts today," Shaffer said. "His work is starting to show with two personal-bests today. He also was able to compete two new dives, one on 1-meter, a front three-and-a-half, and the other a front two-and-a-half with two twists on 3-meter, both scoring over 60 points.
"Scott was a little better on 3-meter than 1-meter," Shaffer said. "He still needs to work on being more consistent on take-offs and finishes."
Auburn returns to action in less than a week, traveling to Georgia Tech for a three-day invitational beginning Thursday, Nov. 15, in Atlanta. Other teams expected to compete are SEC foes Alabama, Florida and South Carolina as well as East Carolina, Florida State and North Carolina.
