ATHENS, Ga. – Aly Tetzloff won the first individual SEC Title of her career on then swam on the third school record-setting relay of the meet, capping another impressive day for Auburn's swimming and diving programs at the 2019 SEC Championships being held at Georgia.
"Everyone wants to know what the magic is, what the secret might be," Taylor said. "The secret is being in the process, continuing to recover and take care of your body. I think it's a mindset, an energy from the team and the coaching staff, which I think we have provided all week on deck."
Tetzloff won the program's 12th women's 100 backstroke title and then returned two events later and swam the fly leg on the runner-up 400 medley relay to continue what has been a torrid week of swimming for the senior.
Tetzloff had already finished second in the 100 fly, swam the fly leg of the third-place 200 medley relay that set a school record and led off the runner-up 200 free relay that also set a school record prior to her exploits on Friday.
As a program, Auburn collected five top-eight individual finishes, three from the women and two from the men, and five more finishes between ninth and 16th-place on Friday night to go along with the runner-up women's 400 medley relay.
"There has been a lot of fast swims by our team and other teams but really these swims come down to grit and determination and we saw a lot of that this morning and even more of that this evening," Taylor said. "People did their job this morning to put themselves in those positions and have some opportunities tonight."
Alison Maillard capped her impressive week with her third top-6 finish of the meet, finishing sixth on the platform after capturing fifth-place finishes on both springboards earlier in the meet. She was the lone female diver at the meet to final in all three events.
Overall the Auburn women are in sixth place with 643 points, 14.5 points behind fifth-place Kentucky and 34.5 points behind fourth-place Florida. Texas A&M leads the meet with 871.5 points.
In the men's meet, Auburn is eighth with 473 points, 12 points behind Kentucky for seventh. Florida leads all teams with 868 points, 7.5 points ahead of Missouri.
WOMEN'S 100 BACKSTROKE
Tetzloff led from the takeoff to claim Auburn's first SEC title in the 100 back since 2007. The Crown Point, Indiana, native went out in 24.39 over the first 50 and then held off a charging Asia Seidt and Sherridon Dressel to claim the title in a school record 50.92.
Tetzloff swam a 26.53 final 50 but had built enough cushion over the first half to get to the wall before Seidt (26.33 second 50) and Dressel (26.35) after the final turn.
"Aly getting the win was a tremendous performance," Taylor said. "You could see the fatigue but she fought through to the finish."
"(Assistant coach) Duncan (Sherrard) told me to come off that last wall and bring it home. 'Whatever you have left in you, all out'," Tetzlofff said.
Not to be overshadowed, Erin Falconer finished fourth in the event. The SEC Champion in the 200 free on Thursday, she went out in 24.97 and came home in 26.65 to touch in 51.62, the second-fastest 100 back of her career.
The morning session started the fireworks in the event as Falconer set the school record with a 51.43 during the sixth of seven prelims heats. That bested Rachel Goh's mark of 51.46 from the 2009 SEC Championships, but it was short-lived as Tetzloff went 50.94 in the next heat to secure the school record, which she would later break, and a spot in Lane 5 for the Championship Final.
"After this morning's swim I knew I wanted to win," Tetzloff said. "I kept telling myself 'you can do this Aly.' I knew I wanted to go faster, I knew I still had some fire in me."
The SEC title was Auburn's first since Goh won back-to-back SEC titles in 2006 and 2007.
Combined with Falconer's 200 free title from Thursday, Auburn has now won multiple individual SEC swimming titles at a single SEC championship for the first time since 2011 when Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace won the 50 and 100 freestyles.
WOMEN'S PLATFORM
Maillard collected her third Top-6 finish of the week with a sixth-place showing on tower, scoring a 247.35. She had qualified eighth for finals after scoring a 251.10 over her five-dive list in prelims. That topped her season-best 244.85 from the Georgia Tech Invitational in November and was 17.10 points shy of her career-best, done during prelims of the 2017 SEC Championships.
"Alison started off great with a nice inward two-and-a-half for 62 points and then she smoked a front three-and-a-half pike for 69 points," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "She got a little tentative after that. But we don't put a lot of focus on tower because her best events are springboard, but maybe I'll have to now."
"It was a lot of fun sneaking into finals; I just wanted to go and have a blast and try to get some energy into it," Maillard said. "When I hit that front three-and-a-half, I think that was one of the best ones I've ever done in competition, so that was really cool."
Combined with her two fifth-place finishes earlier this week, Maillard now has collected seven Top-8 finishes across all three boards at the SEC Championships and has never placed lower than 10th.
"I had my prelims routine down really well and I was able to keep a really steady head (throughout the week)," Maillard said.
"What a great meet," Shaffer said. "Three event finals, won the prelims on 1-meter, and she continues to learn how to play the game when you get in these level meets."
Competing platform for the first time as a collegian, freshman Ruthie Jerger finished 24th with a 176.55.
WOMEN'S 400 MEDLEY RELAY
Auburn dashed to its third school relay record in four tries, combining for a 3:29.06 out of Lane 8 in the 400 medley relay.
Falconer led off with a 51.97 split, her third sub-52 100 back of the day, to put Auburn fourth after one leg. Carly Cummings followed with a 58.85 breaststroke leg, third-fastest in the field, as Auburn moved up to second halfway through the race.
A 51.50 fly leg out of Tetzloff kept Auburn in second leaving Claire Fisch to anchor in 46.74 as the four broke the school record of 3:30.32 held by Emily Bos, Lauren Norberg, Olivia Scott and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace since 2012.
"That was our third 100 of the day (for all four swimmers)," Tetzloff said. "It was awesome to get the school record. I don't think any of us expected to get second place."
"I am very fortunate to be surrounded by an awesome staff," Taylor said. "They have set up these athletes well. There have been some tremendous individual performances and when you combine four of those and put them on a relay you see some outstanding things."
MEN'S 100 BREASTSTROKE
Tommy Brewer secured his spot in the A Final by winning Heat 3 out of Lane 1 in a personal-best 52.51, a drop of .07 second. His return swim in finals netted him an eighth-place finish as he touched in 52.83. His prelims swim made him the fifth-fastest performer with the 18th-fastest performance in school history.
Spencer Rowe moved up three spots from his prelims seed to finish second in the C Final in 53.38. That was a .22 second drop from his previous best of 53.60, done during prelims of the 2018 SEC Championships when he finished 20th overall.
"Really proud of Spencer's performance and Tommy has been a leader for us all year," Taylor said. "He battled to the very end."
MEN'S 200 BUTTERFLY
Santiago Grassi dropped .80 seconds from his prelims time to finish sixth out of Lane 8 in 1:43.05, a career-best that makes him the eighth-fastest performer in school history.
Grassi had previously finished 13th in the event at the 2017 SEC Championships.
In the B Final, Foster Ballard led from the gun in obliterating the field to win in a lifetime-best 1:42.11, a time that stood as the 10th-fastest in the country when he got to the wall.
Ballard, who is now the fifth-fastest performer in school history, had a previous best finish of 17th in 2018. He had also previously swam a 1:42.76 during a time trial on Tuesday morning prior to the beginning of the SEC Championships.
WOMEN'S 200 BUTTERFLY
Bailey Nero led for 175 out of 200 yards before getting just out-touched at the wall to finish second in the B Final and 10th overall in 1:56.38 behind South Carolina's Melinda Novoszath (1:56.28). Nero was two spots ahead of teammate Jewels Harris, who was fourth in 1:56.77. Harris had posted a career-best 1:56.56 in prelims.
Nero completes her four year stay at SECs by scoring in the 200 fly all four years, having previously finished seventh in 2017, ninth in 2018 and 14th in 2016.
Jaden Bellina finished seventh in the C Final in 1:58.91.
The finishes were career-bests for Harris and Bellina, who were 22nd and 35th, respectively, at last year's conference meet.
WOMEN'S 100 BREASTSTROKE
Cummings went 1:00.20 in both prelims and finals to finish 10th overall. Her prelims race had placed her ninth, just .10 seconds out of the A Final. Her time tied her with Laura Swander as the 10th-fastest performer in school history.
MEN'S 100 BACKSTROKE
David Crossland finished 16th with a 47.48 after qualifying with a personal-best 47.22 during prelims. The junior was making his first appearance at night in the event after finishing 26th a year ago.
MEN'S 400 MEDLEY RELAY
Crossland (47.33), Brewer (52.06), Liam McCloskey (45.42) and Grassi (43.14) finished seventh in the final event of the night in 3:08.28.
FRIDAY'S FULL RESULTS
Women's 200 Butterfly
10. Bailey Nero - 1:56.33 / 1:56.38
12. Jewels Harris – 1:56.56 / 1:56.77
23. Jaden Bellina – 1:58.80 / 1:58.91
Men's 200 Butterfly
6. Santiago Grassi – 1:43.85 / 1:43.05
9. Foster Ballard – 1:44.26 / 1:42.11
26. Brogan Davis – 1:47.99
Women's 100 Backstroke
1. Aly Tetzloff – 50.94 / 50.92 [SCHOOL RECORD]
4. Erin Falconer – 51.43 / 51.62
20. Sonnele Oeztuerk – 53.43 / 53.51
24. Abi Wilder – 53.89 / 53.86
34. Annie Boone – 54.48
T41. Jewels Harris – 55.15
48. Sarah Margaret Cimino – 55.57
49. Shannon McKernan – 56.13
Men's 100 Backstroke
16. David Crossland – 47.22 / 47.48
29. Christian Ginieczki – 48.08
Women's 100 Breaststroke
10. Carly Cummings – 1:00.20 / 1:00.20
26. Val Tarazi – 1:02.04
Men's 100 Breaststroke
8. Tommy Brewer – 52.51 / 52.83
18. Spencer Rowe – 53.75 / 53.38
Women's Platform
6. Alison Maillard – 251.10 / 247.35
24. Ruthie Jerger – 176.55
Women's 400 Medley Relay
2. Falconer (51.97), Cummings (58.85), Tetzloff (51.50), Fisch (46.74) – 3:29.06 [SCHOOL RECORD]
Men's 400 Medley Relay
7. Crossland (47.33), Brewer (52.06), McCloskey (45.42), Grassi (43.14) – 3:08.28
TEAM SCORES
Women
1. Texas A&M – 871.5
2. Florida – 788.5
3. Tennessee – 709.5
4. Georgia – 677.5
5. Kentucky – 657.5
6. Auburn - 643
Men
1. Florida - 868
2. Missouri – 860.5
3. Texas A&M – 673
4. Georgia – 614.5
5. Tennessee - 485
8. Auburn - 473
-- War Eagle –