AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn's men's and women's swimming teams combined to win 27 out of 28 races on Saturday in a dual meet with Georgia Tech. Auburn's men upset No. 20 Georgia Tech, 164-94, while the No. 17 Auburn women won 165-91.
"We've had a really hard couple of weeks in training camp and they have shown up each and every day, performed well and continued to get better throughout the break," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "We knew that a Saturday morning meet in the middle of camp would be tough but we really challenged both teams to step up and do what we thought they were capable of and they did that on both sides."
MEN'S RECAP
Seeking their first dual meet win of the season, Auburn's men won the first six events on the day, starting with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:28.47) out of David Crossland, Tommy Brewer, Santiago Grassi and Liam McCloskey.
"I really challenged the men early," Taylor said. "The 200 medley relay was going to be big and those four guys stepped up and put in one of our best performances of the year. That got us on a roll."
Josh Dannhauser (9:21.86), Russell Noletto (9:21.95) and newcomer Aryan Makhija (9:29.81) followed the relay win with a sweep of the 1000 free. The next four events went to Owen Upchurch in the 200 free (1:39.19), Crossland in the 100 back (49.25), Brewer in the 100 breast (55.15) and Grassi in the 200 fly (1:47.54).
After a Georgia Tech win in the 50 free, Auburn rattled off seven more wins. McCloskey took the 100 free (44.57) and Crossland completed the backstroke sweep with a win in the 200 (1:50.87).
"We needed David Crossland to be great on the beginning of the relay and for him to then come back and have his in-season best in the 100 back and win that event and win the 200 back was really impressive and indicative of the work he has done over the last five weeks.
Spencer Rowe (2:02.09) and Brewer (2:02.25) went 1-2 in the 200 breaststroke followed by Noletto (4:30.35), Dannhauser (4:34.17) and Makhija (4:35.89) taking the top three spots in the 500 free.
Grassi completed his sweep of the butterfly events with a win in the 100 (47.36), Noletto was first to the wall in the 400 IM (3:58.34) and Brewer, McCloskey, Christian Sztolcman and Upchurch closed out the meet with a win in the 400 free relay (2:59.68).
"The men have worked hard and fought hard to the end of competitions all year," Taylor said. "It's nice when you get a win though, and I know that will give them a lot of confidence."
WOMEN'S RECAP
It was all Auburn, all the time as Auburn was first to the wall in every race. In 10 of the 14 events, Auburn finished both first and second, including both relays.
Sonnele Oeztuerk, Carly Cummings, Jewels Harris and Julie Meynen opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:41.71) and Erin Falconer, Meynen, Robyn Clevenger and Lauren Dunn closed it with a win in the 400 free relay (3:23.20).
In between relay wins, Falconer won three events (200 free – 1:47.31, 200 back – 1:57.70, 500 free – 4:49.26), Aly Tetzloff (22.58 and 49.94) and Claire Fisch (22.73 and 50.17) went 1-2 in both the 50 and 100 frees, with Tetzloff also winning the 100 back (53.25), Bailey Nero swept the butterflies (54.41 and 1:59.11) and Carly Cummings won the 200 breast (2:15.58) and the 400 IM (4:16.36).
"We have some senior leaders – Erin Falconer, three-for-three in event wins; Aly Tetzloff, three-for-three in event wins – and we had some other people perform really well, with Carly Cummings standing out," Taylor said.
The remaining event wins went to Emily Hetzer in the 1000 free (10:02.74) and Val Tarazi in the 100 breast (1:02.42).
"Emily got a big win to start us off and the relays at the front and end were really competitive and I was really happy to see some people step up," Taylor said. "I'm really proud of both teams."
WHAT'S NEXT
The swimming team will be back in action in just five days as it plays host to Texas on Thursday, Jan. 10, at 2 p.m. at the Martin Aquatics Center. The Texas women will enter the Thursday's dual meet as the nation's top-ranked team while the men, which are the four-time defending NCAA Champions, are ranked second. Admission to the meet is free.
