ATHENS, Ga. – Auburn's women continued their assault on the school's record books, breaking a school relay record and recording Top 10 times across all three individual swimming events during Wednesday's session of the 2019 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships at Georgia's Gabrielson Natatorium.
"I think we set it up this morning with a lot of really good performances," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "If you take care of business in the morning and you get a lane at night anything can happen."
After watching the school record in the 200 medley relay go down on Tuesday, Auburn's women were at it again to close out Wednesday's session. Aly Tetzloff, Claire Fisch, Julie Meynen and Robyn Clevenger combined to smash the 10-year-old record in the 200 free relay, shaving .40 seconds off to finish second in the final event on Wednesday in 1:27.05.
The women also saw new entrants into the school's record books in the 500 free from Sonnele Oeztuerk and Emily Hetzer, the 200 IM from Bailey Nero and the 50 free from Fisch and Meynen while Alison Maillard missed a school record by the narrowest of margins.
"To see the sprinters light it up tonight was outstanding," Taylor said. "The women's 50 with Robyn Clevenger winning the C Final really got the ball rolling."
The men were not left out in inking new times as Josh Dannhauser and Russell Noletto both moved into the Top 10 in the 500 free.
With eight events completed for the women and seven for the men, Auburn sits in fifth place in the women's meet an eighth in the men's meet. Auburn's 329 points puts it just 5.5 points behind Georgia for fourth and 59.5 points behind Florida for third in the women's meet. Texas A&M leads with 441.5 points.
On the men's side, Missouri leads with 378 points. Auburn is eighth with 252 points, just 15 points behind Georgia for seventh (267 pts) and 18 behind Kentucky (270) in sixth.
WOMEN'S 500 FREESTYLE
It was all Auburn from start to finish in the B Final with Hetzer leading for 400 yards before Oeztuerk overtook her in the final 100. Oeztuerk would be first to the wall in 4:39.54, making her the fifth-fastest performer in school history, while Hetzer finished just over a second behind her in 4:40.82. Those performances were the fifth and eighth fastest in school history.
"I had so much fun doing that 500 tonight," Oeztuerk said. "I talked to the coaches and they told me to save my legs for the last 100."
"It was so awesome to go 1-2 with Sonnele and earn points for Auburn," Hetzer said.
During prelims, Hetzer and Oeztuerk qualified 10th and 11th, posting the then-15th and 16th-fastest performances in school history at 4:41.50 and 4:41.57, respectively. Oeztuerk's time also made her then the eighth-fastest performer in school history, a spot she moved up from during finals.
MEN'S 500 FREESTYLE
Josh Dannhauser went 4:17.54 out of Lane 8 to finish seventh overall, an improvement of six spots from his 13th-place finish a year ago. He had qualified eighth after his lifetime-best 4:17.16 during prelims. That time marked over a full second drop of his previous best (4:18.22) and was the ninth-fastest performance in school history, trailing only swims by Zane Grothe and Will Dove.
Russell Noletto dropped over 4.5 seconds off his lifetime best over the course of Wednesday in finishing second in the C Final in 4:18.75. Noletto, who returned for a second swim at a SEC Championship for the first time in his career, had qualified 22nd out of prelims with a 4:20.93, which was over two-and-a-half seconds under his lifetime best of 4:23.51. His finals time made him the seventh-fastest performer with the 25th-fastest performance in school history.
WOMEN'S 200 IM
Bailey Nero earned her the highest individual finish of her career as she placed fifth in a lifetime-best 1:55.13. Swimming in the event at the conference meet for the first time in her career, she had advanced to the finals after posting the fifth-fastest time of the morning at 1:55.54. That time was more than a second better than her previous best (1:56.84).
"The 1:55.5 from this morning has always made NCAAs and then she comes back tonight and makes a couple of changes to go 1:55.1 in an extremely fast event," Taylor said. "It was a fantastic swim."
A senior, Nero is now the fourth-fastest performer with the seventh-fastest performance in school history.
MEN'S 200 IM
Tommy Brewer's 29.59 breaststroke split was the fastest of the B Final and helped the senior to an 11th-place finish overall, the best of his career, in 1:44.90. Brewer had just missed making the A Final, qualifying ninth in prelims with a 1:44.87.
Brogan Davis was the first alternate after a lifetime-best 1:46.48 in prelims.
WOMEN'S 50 FREESTYLE
Fisch earned the first podium of her career with a 21.65 to capture third, which puts her behind only Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace for the title as fastest in Auburn history. She had blistered a 21.78 during prelims to qualify third, and then lopped .15 seconds off of that in finals.
"I remember diving in and then my feet hitting the wall," Fisch said. "I could have had a better second half but it was a best time so I'm happy with it."
Meynen also collected a Top 8 finish, swimming a 22.05 in her third 50 free of the day to finish sixth. After tying for eighth in prelims with a 22.33, she shredded a 22.08 in a swim-off with LSU's Haylee Knight (22.26) to get back into the top eight race for the first time in her career.
Clevenger finished 17th in prelims with a 22.54 and then won the C Final in 22.37, giving her an overall time drop of .36 seconds off her previous best of 22.73 from last year's SEC Championships.
MEN'S 50 FREESTYLE
Santiago Grassi went 19.26, just .03 seconds off his prelims time, to finish fourth, missing the podium by .02 seconds. He had qualified second with a 19.23, which was a lifetime best by .34 seconds. After finishing 24th as a freshman and ninth as a sophomore, it marked the first time the junior had made it into the top eight at the conference meet.
Liam McCloskey had finished 14th in prelims with a lifetime best 19.75, a drop of .07 seconds from SEC Championships a year ago, and then finished 16th overall with a 19.94.
Matthew Yish was the first alternate after a lifetime best 19.99, a drop of .87 seconds, left him .04 seconds out of the top 24.
WOMEN'S 1-METER DIVING
Maillard collected the highest individual finish of her career with a fifth-place finish (311.65). She had narrowly missed the school record in prelims, qualifying first with a 334.20. That score was 18.80 points better than her previous best of 315.40, scored at the 2018 SEC Championships. It was also a mere 3.40 points shy of Vennie Dantin's school mark of 337.60 from the 2012 NCAA Championships.
"As I told Alison after the prelims I always believed in her talent and her ability and finally this morning she stepped up and really competed," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "It's tough diving in finals behind a defending champion and I think she let the nerves of being in the finals affect her a little bit. As she gets into that situation more often, she will deal with it better.
"But I couldn't more proud of her effort today and what we can expect on platform and also at Zones and getting ready for NCAAs," Shaffer said.
WOMEN'S 200 FREESTYLE RELAY
Swimming in Lane 3 of finals, Tetzloff, Fisch, Meynen and Clevenger led for seemingly 180 of the 200 yards, getting out-touched by Tennessee at the wall, 1:26.51 to 1:27.05. Tetzloff led off in 22.02 and was followed by Fisch's 21.15, both of which positioned Auburn at the front. Meynen followed with a 21.69, the fastest third leg before Clevenger anchored in 22.19, which was the second-fastest anchor, bested only by Tennessee's Erika Brown who went an out-worldly 20.80.
"Aly led us off really strong and we just kept it going throughout the whole thing," Fisch said. "I'm proud of everyone."
The 1:27.05 broke the school record of 1:27.45 set at the 2009 SEC Championships by Vanderpool-Wallace, Emily Ewing, Caitlin Geary and Melissa Marik.
"I love relays, they are my favorite," Fisch said. "Individuals are fun but swimming for Auburn and swimming for the girls on the relay is something I love to do."
MEN'S 200 FREESTYLE RELAY
Grassi led off with his third 19.2 of the day, going 19.23 and was followed by McCloskey (19.24), Brewer (19.37) and Yish (19.27) as the four combined to go 1:17.11, the second NCAA Automatic Qualifying Time of the meet for the men.
"This morning I had my best (50 free) time and I was really happy with that," Grassi said. "Tonight I was a little slower and I missed the podium but then I came back in the relay and did 19.23 again. It's really hard to go a same time twice and I was in a range of .03 three times in one day. I can learn from my mistakes and there is still work to do."
WEDNESDAY'S FULL RESULTS
Women's 500 Free
9. Sonnele Oeztuerk – 4:41.57 / 4:39.54
10. Emily Hetzer – 4:41.50 / 4:40.82
41. Jaqueline Hippi – 4:51.82
42. Jaden Bellina – 5:52.50
Men's 500 Free
7. Josh Dannhauser – 4:17.16 / 4:17.54
18. Russell Noletto – 4:20.93 / 4:18.75
28. Aryan Makhija – 4:22.92
38. Christian Sztolcman – 4:26.91
42. Bryan Lee – 4:27.62
Women's 200 IM
5. Bailey Nero – 1:55.54 / 1:55.13
36. Jessica Merritt – 2:00.77
38. Val Tarazi – 2:00.79
44. Carly Cummings – 2:01.37
62. Annie Boone – 2:05.17
Men's 200 IM
11. Tommy Brewer – 1:44.87 /1:44.90
25. Brogan Davis – 1:46.48
27. Foster Ballard – 1:47.22
47. Spencer Rowe – 1:50.51
Women's 50 Free
3. Claire Fisch – 21.78 / 21.65
6. Julie Meynen – 22.33/22.08 / 22.05
17. Robyn Clevenger – 22.54 / 22.37
33. Sierra Jett – 22.84
Men's 50 Free
4. Santiago Grassi – 19.23 / 19.26
16. Liam McCloskey – 19.75 / 19.94
25. Matthew Yish – 19.99
31. Thomas Heinzel – 20.12
35. Owen Upchurch – 20.17
40. Grady Ottomeyer – 20.28
Women's 1-Meter
5. Alison Maillard – 334.20 / 311.65
35. Ruthie JErger – 176.10
Women's 200 Free Relay
2. Tetzloff (22.02), Fisch (21.15), Meynen (21.69), Clevenger (22.19) – 1:27.05 [School Record]
Men's 200 Free Relay
6. Grassi (19.23), McCloskey (19.24), Brewer (19.37), Yish (19.27) – 1:17.11
TEAM SCORES
Women
1. Texas A&M – 441.5
2. Tennessee – 393.5
3. Florida - 388.5
4. Georgia – 334.5
5. Auburn – 329
Men
1. Missouri – 378
2. Florida – 353.5
3. Texas A&M – 344
4. Alabama – 331.5
5. Tennessee – 312
8. Auburn - 252
-- War Eagle –