ATHENS, Ga. – Erin Falconer claimed the first SEC Title of her career on Thursday at the 2019 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, winning the 200 free to claim Auburn's first individual conference title since 2017. Her win was one of three podium finishes for Auburn on the night as Aly Tetzloff and Liam McCloskey each finished second in the 100 fly.
"Last SECs, last 200 free, I'm just going to have fun with it," Falconer said. "The last 25 (yards) I saw some of the girls coming up on me and I knew I had to get my hand on the wall first. We had a lot of second places today and I didn't want to be second."
"Hats off to the staff, to the entire swimming and diving program and ultimately to those three athletes," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "Those three athletes swam really tough tonight. Aly with an outstanding performance in going under 51 for the first time in her career, followed by Liam fighting tooth-and-nail right to the finish for that second-place performance.
"And then finally Erin Falconer, who from Day One has embraced the staff, embodied The New Plains and the idea of getting back to a championship culture," Taylor said. "I couldn't be more proud to have her become the first SEC Champion under this staff."
As a team Auburn's women are in fifth place with 447 points. Texas A&M leads the women's meet with 618.5 points followed by Florida (561.5), Tennessee (557.5), Georgia (471.5) and Auburn.
In the men's team standings, Auburn is in eighth with 343 points, 43.5 points Kentucky for seventh. Florida leads with 636 points followed by Missouri in second (625).
WOMEN'S 200 FREESTYLE
Falconer had qualified first in prelims with a 1:43.75, the second-fastest 200 of her career behind only her leadoff split of 1:43.42 from Tuesday's 800 free relay.
The senior split a 50.90 over the first half of the race to sit in second behind Georgia's Courtney Harnish, who split 50.79. She then turned it on in the next 50, splitting a field-best 25.99, 0.20 seconds faster than Tennessee's Meghan Small and 0.34 ahead of Harnish.
Falconer closed the race with a 26.15 final 50 to finish in 1:43.04 and beat Small to the wall by 0.33 seconds and 0.49 seconds ahead of Harnish.
"During race I wasn't thinking about anything other than getting my hand to the wall," Falconer said. "As soon as I finished I didn't even have time to look at the clock I just looked at my team and I saw them going wild and I kind of knew. That was the most incredible feeling ever."
"Erin has done the work all year," Taylor said. "She has bought in, she has been extremely coachable and very willing to be educated and grow from the experience from one week to the next. She works insanely hard and she aspires to be the very best she can be. That's what you saw in the performance tonight.
"Her front 100 was fantastic and on the back end she brought her legs in and had some great turns and underwaters," Taylor said. "She did everything she's done all year and it culminated in an SEC Championship moment."
Falconer's title was the first for the Auburn women in any SEC event since Ashley Neidigh won the 1650 free in 2017. It was also Auburn's seventh overall women's 200 free title and the first since Caitlin Geary a decade ago. Her 1:43.04 is just .04 seconds slower than Ava Ohlgren's school record 1:42.99 from 2009.
Jessica Merritt finished seventh in the B Final in 1:46.40 after qualifying 15th with a 1:46.27. That marked the best finish of her career in the SEC event while her prelims time was a career-best by 1.21 seconds.
WOMEN'S 100 BUTTERFLY
A year after taking bronze at the 2018 SEC Championships with a 51.32, Tetzloff secured silver in the event with a lifetime best 50.94 on Thursday night. Already the second-fastest performer in school history, her finals swim is also the second-fastest performance and was under the NCAA A qualifying standard.
"From the morning I knew I needed to nail my underwaters off the last wall," Tetzloff said. "I ended up taking one or two more kicks and going a best time by a half-second. I didn't think I would go that fast today and I was pretty pumped by that."
Jewels Harris tied Bailey Nero as the seventh-fastest performer in school history in finishing second in the B Final in 52.27. The sophomore had gone 52.71 during prelims to qualify 12th.
MEN'S 100 BUTTERFLY
McCloskey captured the first individual SEC medal of his career with a silver in 45.11. The senior was out in front after the first 50 with a 20.97 but was just out-touched at the wall by winner Maxime Rooney, who touched in 45.06.
"I just wanted to execute all the little details and I think I did that pretty well tonight," McCloskey said. "I wanted to be 44 but I'm super stoked; 45.1 is a great swim. There was definitely some unfinished business not making the podium last year and I wanted to come in not leave anything on the table."
McCloskey's time was a lifetime best after qualifying second with a lifetime best 45.38 in the morning, keeping him as the fourth-fastest performer in school history.
"Tonight was a culmination and honestly a lot of attention to detail over the past four years," McCloskey said. "In short course yards those tiny things add up. I couldn't have picked a better way to cap off my senior year but we are not done yet. In another four weeks (at NCAAs) we will be ready to go again."
Santiago Grassi also swam in the A Final, finishing fourth in 45.77 after qualifying fourth with a 45.11.
Foster Ballard (46.45) finished fourth in the B Final and Christian Ginieczki (47.66) eighth in the C Final as Auburn added 70 points in the event to the team total.
"Christian has a lifetime best and Foster is another guy who is all-in for Auburn and he got another big performance in prelims and finals tonight," Taylor said. "Santi has had a really impressive three days now and you follow it up with Liam, I am so proud of the men. They fight tough and compete hard and those were four outstanding performances."
WOMEN'S 400 IM
Bailey Nero earned her second fifth-place finish of the meet when she got to the wall in a lifetime best 4:07.31. A butterfly and IM specialist, she was in second following the opening stroke with a 55.21 fly leg. She then split a 1:03.02 on the backstroke leg and 1:11.92 on the breaststroke before closing with a 57.16 freestyle leg.
"I knew I had to be aggressive on that first part of the race because my breaststroke is probably my weakest stroke," Nero said. "I needed to be ahead of the field knowing that I might get caught so I could finish well."
A senior, Nero had placed fifth in the 200 IM on Wednesday night and then improved from her eighth seed to a fifth-place finish in the 400 IM out of Lane 8 on Thursday. Her morning swim had improved her lifetime best from 4:10.43 to 4:07.65, which she then lowered by .34 seconds at night.
"I guess I didn't realize how much IM I have trained recently," Nero said of her two top-five finishes. "It's fun to see all of that work pay off."
Nero became the fourth-fastest performer with the 14th-fastest performance in school history with her finals swim.
Jaqueline Hippi finished fifth in the C Final with a lifetime best 4:13.70. The return for a nighttime swim was a first for the junior, who went 4:14.91 in prelims, which at the time was over 3.5 seconds better than her previous best.
MEN'S 3-METER DIVING
Logan Andrews improved his placement by nine spots from his freshman year in finishing 13th on Thursday. His score of 343.60 was just 0.65 points shy of his career-best 344.25, set during a dual meet with South Carolina.
"Logan led the charge for us today and I was really proud of his consistency," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "I am really pleased with the corrections he's making."
Conner Pruitt also scored, finishing 19th with a 309.70.
"I think Conner pressed a little bit missing both his reverse two-and-a-half pike and back two-and-a-half pike," Shaffer said. "But it was another opportunity to learn and get better as we prepare for tower on Saturday and the Zone Championships."
MEN'S 400 IM
Competing in the 400 IM at the SEC Championships for the fourth time in his career, Russell Noletto returned for a nighttime swim for the first time after qualifying 24th with a lifetime best 3:50.06 in the morning. He would swim a 3:53.02 at night to finish 24th, though his prelims time represented over a 0.75 second drop from his previous best.
MEN'S 200 FREESTYLE
Auburn did not return any swims in the 200 free, with freshman Christian Sztolcman collecting the best time at 1:36.35, which placed 26th.
THURSDAY'S FULL RESULTS
Women's 400 IM
5. Bailey Nero – 4:07.65 / 4:07.31
21. Jaqueline Hippi – 4:14.91 / 4:13.70
34. Jaden Bellina – 4:20.51
Men's 400 IM
24. Russell Noletto – 3:50.06 / 3:53.06
32. Bryan Lee – 3:57.58
Women's 100 Butterfly
2. Aly Tetzloff – 51.51
10. Jewels Harris – 52.71 / 52.27
25. Robyn Clevenger – 53.78
36. Sierra Jett – 55.33
T39. Sarah Margaret Cimino – 56.05
Men's 100 Butterfly
2. Liam McCloskey – 45.38 / 45.11
4. Santiago Grassi – 45.60 / 45.77
12. Foster Ballard – 46.43 / 46.45
24. Christian Ginieczki – 47.52 / 47.66
27. David Crossland – 47.74
32. Matthew Yish – 48.17
33. Brogan Davis – 48.34
Women's 200 Free
1. Erin Falconer – 1:43.75 / 1:43.04
15. Jessica Merritt – 1:46.27 / 1:46.40
25. Emily Hetzer – 1:47.44
27. Claire Fisch – 1:47.54
31. Julie Meynen – 1:47.96
43. Abi Wilder – 1:49.30
49. Shannon McKernan – 1:49.91
Men's 200 Free
26. Christian Sztolcman – 1:36.35
28. Owen Upchurch – 1:36.49
35. Josh Dannhauser – 1:37.32
43. Thomas Heinzel – 1:37.93
44. Aryan Makhija – 1:37.94
53. Grady Ottomeyer – 1:40.50
Men's 3-Meter
13. Logan Andrews – 343.60
19. Conner Pruitt – 309.70
29. Justin Checchin – 258.05
TEAM SCORES
Women
1. Texas A&M – 618.5
2. Florida – 561.5
3. Tennessee – 557.5
4. Georgia – 471.5
5. Auburn – 447
Men
1. Florida - 636
2. Missouri - 625
3. Texas A&M – 492
4. Tennessee - 442
5. Alabama – 441.5
8. Auburn - 343
-- War Eagle –