With most of the fall swimming competitions completed across the country, here is a look back at the fall season and some of the outstanding accomplishments already achieved.
WHERE WE STAND NOW
With almost all of the dual meets and invitationals done until January, the Auburn women's team is ranked No. 17 in the CSCAA Top 25. After debuting at No. 16, the squad rose to as high as 12th following the dual meet win at Virginia but after a runner-up finish at the Georgia Tech Invitational surprisingly dropped back to No. 17.
Auburn's men opened the season No. 25 in the preseason poll but have since dropped into the Also Receiving Votes category in October and then out of the Top 25 completely.
DIVERS EXCELLING
As it currently stands, Alison Maillard, Scott Lazeroff and Conner Pruitt have all earned Zone Qualifying Scores on all three boards while Logan Andrews earned his Zone Score on the 1-meter last week at Alabama.
Maillard has already claimed six individual victories this season, sweeping the springboards at both the Florida Gulf Coast and Alabama dual meets. The junior now has 17 career dual meet/invitational springboard wins.
Pruitt has also had a big fall, winning four individual events, which included a platform win at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Lazeroff has one win this season and the senior now has 15 individual career dual meet/invitational wins.
Auburn's divers still have one more fall competition remaining in the Auburn Diving Invitational, which runs Dec. 17-19 at the Martin Aquatics Center. The two-session invite, which will feature prelims at 11 am and finals at 5 pm, will also include Florida, LSU and South Carolina.
It's Championship Thursday on The Plains as @AuburnGym, @AuburnSwimDive and @AuburnFootball battle it out in the finals of the Great Auburn Bake Off!
— Auburn Tigers (@AuburnTigers) December 13, 2018
Vote below and let us know who you think should be crowned CHAMPION! ⤵️#WarEagle
GONE FISCHING
Junior Claire Fisch has had a big debut after joining the program for the fall semester. The Riverside, Calif., native has won the 50 free at four out of five meets so far and swept the sprint frees at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Her top 50 free time of 22.05 is currently tied for 10th-best nationally and her 100 free time of 48.37 is 21st.
Fisch, who was the SEC Co-Swimmer of the Week following the win at Virginia, has also been on seven winning relays.
RELAY? RELAY!
Auburn's women's freestyle relays are all currently ranked in the top 16 nationally, led by the 400 free relay, which is 7th-fastest nationally (3:13.72). The 200 free relay checks in as the 11th-fastest (1:28.79) and the 800 free relay is 15th (7:08.39). The 400 medley relay (3:35.08) and 200 medley relay (1:38.45) are 21st and 24th, respectively.
SHE'S GOING THE DISTANCE … HE'S GOING FOR SPEED
The distance swimmers have really taken off this year, with freshman Emily Hetzer and sophomore Josh Dannhauser tackling the longer swims. Hetzer currently has NCAA B cuts in the 200 free, 500 free, 1650 free and 400 IM and has already become one of Auburn's top all-time performers in the 500 free (4:39.18), 1000 free (9:43.54) and 1650 free (16:05.48).
Her 500 free time is currently 12th-fastest nationally, her 1000 free is ninth and her 1650 free is 11th.
Dannhauser recently swept the distance free events at the Alabama dual meets and also has NCAA B cuts in the 500 free (4:21.73) and 1650 free (15:00.59), with his mile time being the 20th-fastest recorded in the nation so far.
BACK-TO-BACK
Senior Erin Falconer continues her dominance in the backstroke events, where she has four individual event wins this season. Her best 200 back performances, a 1:53.56 from the Georgia Tech Invitational, is currently tied for 16th-fastest nationally while her best 100, a 52.99 from the same meet, is tied for 35th nationally and ninth in the SEC.
FLY GUYS
A top-8 finisher at SECs a year ago, Santiago Grassi owns NCAA provisional times in both the 100 and 200 butterflies. His 100 fly time (46.70) is tied for 33rd nationally and his 200 fly time (1:45.09) is currently 46th. Foster Ballard also has a 200 fly B cut at 1:46.60.
TO 'B' SURE
As a group, Auburn's women have tallied 28 NCAA B cuts from 11 women, with Falconer, Hetzer and Bailey Nero each owning four B cuts. Carly Cummings and Tetzloff each have three cuts while Fisch, Jewels Harris, Julie Meynen and Sonnel Oeztuerk each have two. Jessica Merrit and Abi Wilder round out the cuts with one apiece.
For the men, Dannhauser and Grassi each have two B cuts while Ballard and Tommy Brewer each have one.
A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE
Following the holiday break, Auburn will play host to three dual meets during the month of January, all free to the public at the Martin Aquatics Center. While the divers are at the Georgia Diving Invite (Jan. 4-6), the swimmers will take on Georgia Tech on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 10 a.m. The squads will then play host to Texas on Thursday, Jan. 10 and Florida on Saturday, Jan. 26.
-- War Eagle –