AUBURN, Ala. – For the Auburn swimming and diving teams, the 2019-20 season has arrived. Though the first regular-season meet isn't until next month, the Tigers will compete in the annual Orange & Blue Intrasquad Meet on Friday at 4 p.m. CT in the Martin Aquatics Center.
The two sides will be coached by the assistant coaches, and head coach Gary Taylor – now in his second year with the program – will bounce back and forth between them.
"Right now, there' a lot of excitement in the unknown," Taylor said. "For our returners, you maybe have some knowns there. You see some people that took more steps – not only last season but then throughout the spring and summer season as well – to come into this 2019-20 year even more prepared and ready to go. So I'm excited to see how they perform.
"And then there's the new faces, the freshmen. There's a lot of unknown. Now they're going to have an opportunity to get up on the blocks, they're in the limelight, and how do they perform? How do they get up and compete?
"It's the same on the diving side. You've got a lot of new faces on the diving end of things as well. They've trained really hard. Jeff (Shaffer) is really happy with the performances in training, and so now we need to see how those men and women step up and perform.
"I know it's intrasquad, but this will be their first opportunity to wear the 'AU' and compete as a team, as a family together. So I think this is a great way to build some excitement, set us up for the season, certainly as we prepare for the SMU invite in a couple of weeks and then LSU in three weeks."
Friday's meet will be non-traditional as it will feature multiple "off" events including the 75, 150, 300 and 600 freestyles, the 75 and 150 backstroke, breaststroke and butterflies and the 300 IM. In total, there will be 14 swimming events and both the 1- and 3-meter diving events.
Doors to the Aquatics Center open at 3 p.m. CT, and the meet will be free and open to the public.