AUBURN, Ala. – Santiago Grassi earned All-America honorable mention honors in the 100 butterfly on Friday night at the 2019 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.
A junior, Grassi became the fifth-fastest Auburn performer in the 100 fly when he touched third in the consolation finals in 45.35, which also was the seventh-fastest performance in school history. The 11th-place finish was the highest for the Santa Fe, Argentina, native, after previously finishing tied for 29th as a freshman and tied for 19th last year.
"Really good day for Santi," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "He came in this morning seeded outside the Top 16 (18th) and put in a really good morning performance. Then he came back tonight with a technically sound, well-swum 100 fly. He put in a fantastic swim when we really needed it."
Grassi earned his return swim by shaving 0.08 seconds off his seed time from the SEC Championships to qualify 13th in 45.52, which at the time was the ninth-fastest performance in school history.
In the diving well, Conner Pruitt finished 28th with a 317.25, which topped his score from the SEC Championships but fell below what he posted at the Zone Championships when he finished eighth. Pruitt, from Opelika, finished 34th on the 1-meter on Friday and will compete on the platform on Saturday.
"I was really proud of how Conner stepped up and competed," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "He was really strong in the first three rounds and showed a renewed competitive level as compared to yesterday. Unfortunately he missed his fourth round dive and then his two twisters were not as clean on the finishes that he normally does."
Auburn's events on Saturday will be the 1650 free (Josh Dannhauser), 100 free (Liam McCloskey, Grassi), 200 breaststroke (Brewer, Spencer Rowe), 200 fly (Foster Ballard) and the platform (Pruitt).
Prelims begin at 10 a.m. CT and finals at 6 p.m.
Live scoring from the meet is available through TexasSports.com, Divemeets.com and the Meet Mobile app.
A live video stream is also available of all prelims sessions through TexasSports.com while finals sessions are available through ESPN3.
Auburn Results
100 Butterfly
11. Santiago Grassi – 45.52 / 45.35
31. Liam McCloskey – 46.19
34. Foster Ballard – 46.21
100 Breaststroke
24. Tommy Brewer – 52.70
38. Spencer Rowe – 53.79
3-Meter
28. Conner Pruitt – 317.25
200 Medley Relay
22. Auburn – 1:25.33
Auburn All-America Honors (1 individual, 1 honor)
Santiago Grassi – 100 Fly HM
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