AUSTIN, Texas – Aly Tetzloff had a busy day at the 2019 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday, swimming a total of six times, setting a school record and earning a pair of top-eight individual finishes and another top-16 finish on a relay.
"Tired," Tetzloff said following her grueling day. "I've trained for this though and I was really glad I did it because it gives me the confidence to do four 100s tomorrow (100 free, 400 free relay)."
Tetzloff's school record came in the 100 fly, where she raced to a 50.61 to earn the highest individual finish of her career with a fifth-place finish. That time bested Haley Black's school record of 50.68 from last year's SEC Championships and her own personal-best 50.94 done at both the SEC Championships and again during prelims on Friday.
"Aly had a really tough prelims and finals with three swims in each session," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "She set herself up really well this morning, putting herself in the two A Finals."
With just two events to rest between her 100 fly school record and her next time on the blocks, Tetzloff didn't succumb to the fatigue, getting to the wall in 51.33 to finish eighth in the 100 back. Combined with her 50.96 qualifying time from the morning, the senior now owns the four-fastest 100 back performances in school history, all of them coming within the last month.
"I came into college wanting to be in an All-American in both of those events because they are on the same day and it's so hard to do," Tetzloff said. "That was a big goal I set coming here four years ago and I did it."
Tetzloff began her day by swimming the fourth-fastest time of the morning in the 100 fly at 50.94, which matched her career-best time. She followed that up by qualifying seventh in the 100 back with a 50.96, the third-fastest swim of her career in the event and just .04 seconds off her school record set at the SEC Championships.
Tetzloff ended her morning session by leading off the 200 medley relay with a 24.29 backstroke leg. Combined with Carly Cummings, Bailey Nero and Claire Fisch, the group qualified 13th in 1:36.74. She duplicated that progression at night, though this time she swam the fly leg. In her place, Erin Falconer led off followed by Cummings, Tetzloff and Fisch as the foursome went 1:37.30 and finished 15th.
Falconer earned the highest individual finish of her career with a 10th-place finish in the 200 free in 1:43.60. Swimming a 50.69 first 100, she went 26.50 and 26.41 on the last two 50s to move up to grab second in the consolation finals.
Falconer's had swum a 1:43.72 to qualify ninth out of prelims. With her prelims and finals swims, she now owns six of the 11 fastest 200 free swims in school history.
"Erin has been one of our leaders all year, not only vocally but physically in the water and you saw that against today," Taylor said. "She has now swum six 1:43 200-yard freestyles over the last four weeks. That's really impressive at this level of swimming."
Alison Maillard collected a 12th-place finish on the 3-meter to earn honorable mention All-America honors for the second time in her career. The junior scored a 326.95 in finals to match her 12th-place finish on the 1-meter from her freshman year.
Maillard had sunk to as low as 35th out of 48 divers after her third round prelims dive, a forward 3.5 somersault pike, scored a 37.20. The junior then rebounded over the final three dives, scoring a 49.50, 64.50 and 66.00 to end prelims with a six dive total of 318.30, at the time best NCAA score of her career, and a 15th-place finish in prelims.
"I was a little disappointed mid prelims and I just relaxed and prayed," Maillard said. "When I hit that gainer I knew that I had a chance because it was a big number. When I got the inward takeoff I was so excited."
"I'm really proud of Alison and how she stayed with it. That was a really tough contest," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "She needed to hit her last two dives in prelims to get a second list and those were two of her stronger dives."
With her 12th-place finish, Maillard, from Houston, became the first Auburn female diver to dive a second list on the 3-meter at NCAAs since Vennie Dantin in 2012.
Auburn stands in 12th place in the team standings with 93 points, which is the most it has scored at the NCAA Championships since scoring 249 in 2012 when it tied for seventh. Among SEC teams, only Tennessee has more points (138). California leads the meet with 328 points followed closely by Stanford with 299.5 points.
"You have a women's team that is fighting for a Top 10 spot and they haven't been in this position for a number of years," Taylor said. "It brings a different kind of pressure and I think they've done a really good job of working through that one session to the next."
The championships conclude on Saturday with prelims and finals of the 200 back (Falconer, Sonnele Oeztuerk), 100 free (Fisch, Julie Meynen, Tetzloff), 200 fly (Jewels Harris, Nero), platform (Maillard), 1650 free (Emily Hetzer) and the 400 free 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.
Friday Results
100 Butterfly
5. Aly Tetzloff – 50.94 / 50.61
23. Bailey Nero – 52.18
43. Jewels Harris – 53.06
200 Freestyle
10. Erin Falconer – 1:43.72 / 1:43.60
49. Emily Hetzer – 1:47.60
100 Backstroke
8. Aly Tetzloff – 50.96 / 51.33
21. Erin Falconer – 52.25
3-Meter
12. Alison Maillard – 318.30 / 326.95
200 Medley Relay
16. Auburn – 1:36.74 / 1:37.30
Team Standings
1. California – 328
2. Stanford – 299.5
3. Michigan – 233
4. Louisville – 163
5. NC State - 141
12. Auburn - 93
All-America Honors (10 individuals, 26 honors)
Robyn Clevenger (200 FR)
Carly Cummings (200 MR HM, 400 MR HM)
Erin Falconer (200 Free HM, 800 FR HM, 200 MR HM, 400 MR HM)
Claire Fisch (50 Free HM, 200 FR, 200 MR HM, 400 MR HM)
Alison Maillard (3-Meter HM)
Jessica Merritt (800 FR HM)
Julie Meynen (50 Free HM, 200 FR, 400 MR HM)
Bailey Nero (200 IM HM, 800 FR HM, 200 MR HM, 400 MR HM)
Sonnele Oeztuerk (800 FR HM)
Aly Tetzloff (100 Back, 100 Fly, 200 FR, 200 MR HM, 400 MR HM)
School Records
Aly Tetzloff – 100 Fly – 50.61
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