AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 7 Auburn women's swimming and diving team won 13 of 16 events in route to a 187-113 win over No. 8 Florida on Saturday for the program's first top-10 dual meet win since the start of the 2015-16 season. The No. 25 Auburn men won four events in a 182-118 loss to the No. 6 Florida men.
WOMEN'S SWIMMING RECAP
Swimming the final dual meet of their careers, seniors Erin Falconer, Bailey Nero and Aly Tetzloff joined with freshman Emily Hetzer and junior Claire Fisch to win nine individual swimming events.
"The seniors did what they have done all year," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "They have really embraced the staff and the image of The New Plains. They came out and fought really hard for the staff, their teammates and most importantly Auburn swimming and diving. They have really been the glue that bonded this team together."
Falconer continued her torrid senior season, winning the 200 free (1:46.79) and 200 back (1:55.50) to give her 11 individual wins on the season. The same was true of Tetzloff, who won the 100 back (52.94) and 100 fly (53.05) to give her 13 individual wins this year, five of them coming in the 100 fly.
"Erin and Aly go out and get some big wins for us and created a lot of momentum and energy early," Taylor said. "I can't say enough about them. They are skilled and talented, however they swim with a lot of heart and a lot of pride."
For Nero, a win in the 200 fly (1:58.49) gave her eight individual wins this season.
Hetzer, the outstanding newcomer, continued her dominance of the distance frees, winning the 500 in 4:48.96 and the 1000 in 9:48.32. The distance free sweep was the second of the season for her, also doing it against Alabama, and she finished the dual meet season with eight individual wins.
"Emily is a really great performer and she swims really tough," Taylor said. "She's not scared to hurt, she's not scared to compete and we see that from one week to the next, one meet to the next, and I think her best swimming is in front of her."
Not to be overshadowed, juniors Claire Fisch and Julie Meynen continued to own the sprint freestyles, going 1-2 in both the 50 and the 100. Fisch took the top spot both times, going 22.41 in the 50 and 49.07 in the 100 while Meynen touched in 22.70 in the 50 and 49.99 in the 100. Robyn Clevenger made it a clean sweep with a third-place finish in the 50 (23.42) while Jessica Merritt did the same in the 100 (50.93).
Carly Cummings earned the final individual win, getting to the wall first in the 100 breast in 1:01.75.
Auburn also swept the relays, winning the 200 medley relay (1:37.95) to start the meet and the 400 free relay (3:19.40) to end it. Falconer, Fisch and Tetzloff swam on both relays and were joined by Cummings for the medley relay and Meynen for the free relay.
"The women knew they were up against it," Taylor said. "We had a challenge today with Florida. They came in ready to go and ready to compete. We got some wins early, never let up and never allowed Florida to gain momentum. It was awesome to see."
The No. 8 Gators were the highest-ranked team to fall to Auburn in a dual meet since the Tigers knocked off No. 5 Indiana at the start of the 2015-16 season.
MEN'S SWIMMING RECAP
Senior Liam McCloskey earned an individual win and was a part of the winning 200 medley relay in his final dual meet for Auburn. He was able to capture first in the 50 free (20.23) and was just out-touched in the 100 free (44.78) to take second.
McCloskey was also joined by David Crossland, Tommy Brewer and Santiago Grassi in winning the 200 medley relay (1:27.08) to start the meet.
Overall the men collected eight second-place finishes. Freshman Christian Sztolcman was second to the wall in the 200 free (1:37.97) and joined McCloskey, Brewer and Owen Upchurch to take second in the 400 free relay (2:58.52).
Seniors Foster Ballard, Brewer and Russell Noletto also each were second to the wall in a race, with Ballard doing it in the 200 fly (1:48.59), Brewer in the 100 breast (54.65) and Noletto in the 500 free (4:28.23).
"Give Florida credit, they have some world-class athletes who came in and won events today," Taylor said. "What I'm most proud of, and I've seen this from our men all year long, even when the meet started to get away from them from a score standpoint, you saw our guys competing hard through the end of their races. As a coach, what more can I ask for?"
DIVING RECAP
Auburn's men went 1-2-3 in both springboard events with Scott Lazeroff winning the 1-meter (323.48) and Conner Pruitt the 3-meter (378.08), with Pruitt posting a career-best.
Lazeroff also finished second on the 3-meter (369.30) while Pruitt was third on 1-meter (314.85). Logan Andrews completed the podium sweeps with a second-place finish on 1-meter (319.28) and a third-place finish on 3-meter (337.88).
"I thought it was a successful day and we competed pretty well," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "We did a lot of good things from board to water. We still need to focus a little bit more on cleaning up our entries, and that will add some points."
Alison Maillard earned her fifth 3-meter win of the season with a 317.55 and also finished second on the 1-meter (285.53).
"We have three weeks until conference and we have some things we need to clean up but I like where we are," Shaffer said. "Not everything went the way we planned but what I see is possibly corrections on takeoffs and maybe finish and with focus that is something we can improve upon."
WHAT'S NEXT
Saturday's meet concluded the dual meet season for Auburn. The women ended the year 5-2, 2-1 SEC, while the men went 1-5, 0-3 SEC. Both teams will have one final tune-up before the SEC Championships, which will be February 19-23 at the University Georgia. Prior to that both teams will compete in the Auburn Invitational, Feb. 8-10 at the Martin Aquatics Center.
-- War Eagle –
Auburn S&D splits a pair of Top 25 dual meets with Florida
