AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn's swimming and diving teams are back in action this week, traveling up I-85 to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Invitational. The three-day meet takes place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the McAuley Aquatic Center, which played host to the 2016 NCAA Championships and was the site of the 1996 Olympics.
"This is going to be a really deep field and a really hard competition," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "Our athletes are ready to go. They got a little bit of rest this week and they will have the opportunity to wear fast suits. They have worked really hard this fall to prepare themselves and we are excited to see some great energy and see them compete at a high level."
Auburn's women go into the meet ranked No. 12 in the latest CSCAA Top 25 as they knocked off then-No. 7 Virginia in a dual meet in October at Charlottesville. They women also have seven individual swims and four relays ranked in the top 16 nationally, led by Emily Hetzer's two (500 and 1000 frees). The other women to have top-16 times are Carly Cummings (100 breast), Erin Falconer (100 back), Bailey Nero (200 IM), Sonnele Oeztuerk (200 back) and Aly Tetzloff (100 free).
Auburn's men will be competing for just the second time this season, having fallen to Tennessee the last time out.
The three-day meet will follow the traditional three-day NCAA Championship event order with the 200 free relay, 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 400 medley relay on Thursday, the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 800 free relay on Friday and the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 free relay on Saturday. Diving will also be contested all three days with the springboard competitions taking place Thursday and Friday and platform on Friday.
Other teams at the invitational will be Alabama, East Carolina, Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, host Georgia Tech, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia Tech.
Prelims begin at 9 am CT and finals at 4:40 pm.
"For three days it can be really hard on the athletes," Taylor said of the meet set-up. "You want to give the athletes an opportunity to learn and grow from this experience and see how they perform from one session to the next. It's really about making elite decisions to prepare your body and prepare your mind. It's awesome preparation based on the competition that we'll see here to get us ready for the end of the year to see how people respond."
Live results will be available for each session through ramblinwreck.com and the entirety of the invite will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra and ESPN3.
LIVE COVERAGE
Live Results: http://data.ramblinwreck.com/livestats/c-swim/
ACC Network Extra
The entirety of the invite will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra. This is available in the same way that ESPN3 is and can be accessed through watch.espn.com.
Thursday, Nov. 15
Prelims: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3453254/georgia-tech-invitational
Finals: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3453188/georgia-tech-invitational
Friday, Nov. 16
Prelims: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3453193/georgia-tech-invitational
Finals: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3453242/georgia-tech-invitational
Saturday, Nov. 17
Prelims: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3453186/georgia-tech-invitational
Finals: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3453180/georgia-tech-invitational