AUSTIN, Texas –Auburn collected 13 All-America honors at the 2019 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Jamail Texas Swimming Center on Thursday night. Auburn tallied one top-eight finish and four top-16 finishes over the course of the day to collect 48 points on the night.
"As I've told the women, they've earned this spot, they've earned this opportunity. They are here because they are a really good group of women and I think they showed that today," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "We had a lot of really strong, solid performances, with both relays scoring us some big points. We had some really good points out of the B Final from Bailey Nero, Claire Fisch and Julie Meynen."
Fisch, Aly Tetzloff, Meynen and Robyn Clevenger grabbed the team's highest finish of the night, taking seventh in the 200 free relay in 1:27.56. Fisch led off with a 22.02 before turning the race over to Tetzloff, who split 21.55, Meynen (21.92) and Clevenger (22.07). The same foursome had qualified eighth out of prelims with a 1:27.40 to occupy Lane 8 in the Championship Finals.
Nero held her seed in the 200 IM from prelims to finals, finishing 10th in 1:55.40 to earn the first All-America Honorable Mention accolade of her career. Her finals time was the second-fastest 200 IM of her career after her then- third-fastest (1:55.57) qualified her 10th out of prelims. Her appearance in the consolation finals was the first of her career as her previous best finish was 33rd in 2017.
"This meet is not about times, it's about racing and winning, getting your hand on the wall first and we saw that in numerous spots today," Taylor said. "Bailey's swim comes to mind. She actually swam just a little off what she did at SECs but she moved up spots. That's what this meet is about."
Fisch earned her first individual All-America Honorable Mention accolade with a 14th-place finish (22.12) in the 50 free. For Meynen, her 15th-place finish (22.18) was the seventh All-America accolade of her career. Fisch swam the fourth-fastest 50 free of her career (21.95) to qualify 10th out of prelims while Meynen qualified 16th off of a 22.09, her second-fastest 50 ever.
Erin Falconer, Carly Cummings, Nero and Meynen wrapped up the night with an 11th-place finish in the 400 medley relay in 3:31.38, which was just shy of a full second drop from prelims. Falconer led off with a 51.74 backstroke leg before giving way to Cummings (1:00.53). Nero, swimming on a NCAA relay for the first time, split 51.67 on the fly leg before Meynen anchored in 47.44. Falconer, Cummings, Tetzloff and Fisch had qualified 15th with a 3:32.16.
Sonnele Oeztuerk swam the second-fastest 500 free of her Auburn career, touching the wall in 4:40.86, to win her prelims heat of the 500 free. She had to come from seventh-place over the final 100 yards, splitting a 27.79 and an incredible 26.79, one of only two sub-27 final 50s in the entire event in the morning. She finished just ahead of Emily Hetzer, who swam the third-fastest 500 of her career (4:41.13) to finish second in the same heat. Overall the pair placed 22nd and 23rd, respectively.
"Even the women that didn't have the opportunity to come back and compete tonight put in some good swims," Taylor said. "Sonnele and Emily did a really nice job this morning. I'm really proud of the overall effort I am seeing from this team."
Alison Maillard posted her best ever score at the NCAA Championships with a 289.30 on the 1-meter to just miss the consolation finals, finishing 17th. It took a 290.95 to make the consolation finals and a 299.05 to make the championship finals.
"We got off to a little shaky start on one of her best dives, just missing the entry a little bit, but she kept fighting back," diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "She was right there. She did a great last dive (scoring 56.40 points) but it just wasn't enough to make up. This is a tough field and there is not a lot of room to come back from mistakes. I'm disappointed for her for being so close."
"This meet is a battle of wills, battle of attrition and our ability to maintain focus, recover, get rest and prepare from one session to the next is going to be paramount," Taylor said. "We're off to a great start and we have some opportunities to be better as the weekend goes."
Auburn has scored 52 points as a team, which is the most it has scored after the first seven events at the NCAA Championship meet since it had 94 in 2012. Overall Auburn is 12th, second to only Tennessee (69 pts) among SEC teams.
The championships continue on Friday with prelims and finals of the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 3-meter diving and 200 medley relay. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. CT and finals at 5 p.m.
The Championships are available to watch on ESPN3 and live stats and scoring will be available through texassports.com and divemeets.com and the Meet Mobile app.
Thursday Results
200 Freestyle Relay
7. Auburn – 1:27.40 / 1:27.56
500 Freestyle
22. Sonnele Oeztuerk – 4:40.86
23. Emily Hetzer – 4:41.13
200 IM
10. Bailey Nero – 1:55.57 / 1:55.40
50 Free
14. Claire Fisch – 21.95 / 22.12
15. Julie Meynen – 22.09 / 22.18
1-Meter
17. Alison Maillard – 289.30
400 Medley Relay
11. Auburn – 3:32.16 / 3:31.38
Team Standings
X. Stanford – 173.5
2. California – 173
3. Michigan – 129
4. Louisville – 100
5. Texas – 87
12. Auburn - 52
All-America Honors (9 individuals, 17 honors)
Robyn Clevenger (200 FR)
Carly Cummings (400 MR HM)
Erin Falconer (800 FR HM, 400 MR HM)
Claire Fisch (50 Free HM, 200 FR, 400 MR HM)
Jessica Merritt (800 FR HM)
Julie Meynen (50 Free HM, 200 FR, 400 MR HM)
Bailey Nero (200 IM HM, 800 FR HM, 400 MR HM)
Sonnele Oeztuerk (800 FR HM)
Aly Tetzloff (200 FR, 400 MR HM)
-- War Eagle –