ATLANTA – Thursday was a day for fast suits and fast times as the Auburn swimming and diving teams took on the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational at the McAuley Aquatic Center. The program saw three women throw down three top-10 times in history and multiple times that rank among the fastest nationally this season.
"It was a good, solid day for us," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "The (women's 200 free) relay team getting a big win to start the night off was awesome. Claire (Fisch) leads off with one of the fastest performances in Auburn history and then later on wins the 50 free in almost the same time. She had an awesome day."
Auburn's 200 free relay team of Fisch, Julie Meynen, Aly Tetzloff and Robyn Clevenger topped all comers with a 1:28.79, which represents the third-fastest time in the country to date.
That was just the start of a big night for Fisch, who led off in 22.05, making her the sixth-fastest performer with the 22nd-fastest performance in school history. It also and represented the second-fastest 50 free recorded this season nationally.
Roughly 90 minutes later, Fisch was back at it, dominating the field to win the 50 free in 22.07. Meynen tied for fifth in 22.67.
Fisch then anchored the 400 medley relay team of Erin Falconer, Carly Cummings and Aly Tetzloff to a second-place finish with a blistering 47.97 split, the fastest anchor in the field by well over a half-second. The squad's 3:35.08 is the fourth-fastest relay recorded this season.
Freshman Emily Hetzer also had a big moment for the Auburn women, taking second in the 500 free in 4:39.18, which makes her the fourth-fastest performer with the fourth-fastest performance in school history. It was also the second-fastest 500 free in the nation behind only the event winner. Falconer finished fourth in the event (4:43.58) and Sonnele Oeztuerk took sixth (4:44.14), both of which are top-16 times nationally.
Bailey Nero also etched her name into the record books, storming to a 1:56.84 to finish fourth in the 200 IM. That swim, which is currently fifth-fastest nationally, made her the sixth-fastest performer in school history. Jessica Merrit finished eighth in 2:00.17 after going 1:59.82 in prelims.
Though there weren't any top 10 lists being torn up on Thursday for the men, Taylor's squad did see some promising times and results all the same.
Sophomore Josh Dannhauser had the highest individual finish of any Auburn man, taking sixth in the 500 free in 4:21.73, which is currently 12th-fastest in the nation.
Senior Tommy Brewer swam a 1:47.72 in finals after a 1:46.91 got him into the A Finals of the 200 IM. His prelims time had seeded him sixth and is currently ninth-fastest nationally while his finals time placed him eighth.
Auburn's top relay in the 400 medley relay of David Crossland, Brewer, Santiago Grassi and Liam McCloskey combined to finish fifth in 3:13.27. Brewer's 53.72 split on the breaststroke leg was third-fastest in the event. The overall time makes Auburn the seventh-fastest in the country to date.
The 200 free relay team of Grassi, Brewer, McCloskey and Thomas Heinzel opened the night with an eighth-place finish in 1:20.45. Brewer had the fastest split of the four at 19.74.
DIVING RECAP
Alison Maillard finished eighth (293.95) in the 3-meter competition following a 322.60 prelims scored, which had seeded her fourth going into finals.
"Alison did a decent first list," diving coach Jeff Shaffer said, "but then she was 30-points under (her first list) in finals. We try to dive consistent in prelims, get ourselves in position in finals to step up and we didn't do that today."
For the men, freshman Conner Pruitt also brought home an eighth-place finish (301.45) after qualifying sixth with a 309.25.
"I was really pleased with Conner in his first prelims-finals on 1-meter being able to make finals," Shaffer said. "He had two consistent lists and it was a good learning experience for him."
After Pruitt it was Justin Checchin finishing 16th (263.75) and Scott Lazeroff finishing 24th (211.35).
"Overall it was a little disappointing day for us," Shaffer said. "I thought coming in that we were starting to make some progress and improving upon our scoring potential. Whether it was a lack of focus or just a lack of competitiveness I thought we were a little off our game."
WHAT'S NEXT
Day 2 of the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational gets underway at 9 am CT on Friday, with finals being contested at 4:30 pm. Swimming events scheduled for Friday are the 200 medley relay, the 400 IM, the 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 800 free relays. In diving the men will take on the 3-meter springboard while the women will compete the 1-meter.
Live stats are available through auburntigers.com and all sessions will also be streamed live on ESPN3.
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
Fast times for Auburn on day one of Georgia Tech Invite
