AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women's team, ranked No. 13 nationally, will kick off the 2019-20 season for Auburn's swim and dive program with the SMU Classic on Friday and Saturday.
Last year, in Gary Taylor's first year as head coach, the Tigers earned a lot of attention on the women's side with a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, its highest finish since 2012, and 35 All-American honors, the most at a single NCAA Championships since 2009 (38).
"There was a lot of hype surrounding the women's team during 2018-2019," Taylor said. "That season is over. Now we've garnered some respect and people think highly of us based on what started last year. However, it's really on this group to set the tone from Day 1. I think they've trained well. I believe that they're excited and ready to compete this weekend.
"My mantra to this team is 'What is 2019-2020 going to be all about?' And they have an opportunity to set the tone this weekend for the rest of the year."
Unlike a typical event, the SMU Classic features eight swimmers and one diver from the six competing schools – Auburn, SMU, Iowa, Louisville, Miami and Northwestern.
Swimmers may swim three events per day, one of which must be a relay. Each team will enter one swimmer per heat (Consolation & Championship), while relays will only have a Championship heat. Diving events will consist of six optional dives on 1-meter and 3-meter boards.
On the swimming side, Auburn is bringing four All-Americans from a year ago with Carly Cummings, Claire Fisch, Julie Meynen and Sonnele Oeztuerk. They will be joined by Jewels Harris, Emily Hetzer, Hanna Newby and Abbey Webb.
Senior Alison Maillard, also an All-American from last season, will represent the Tigers in the diving competition.
"Really what I'm looking for is for (Maillard) to continue to develop her competitive skills, and it starts this weekend," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "It's a unique format with six teams and one diver from each team. It won't be a big field, but it will give us a very good feel for where we are and what we need to work on."
The event begins at 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday and then continues Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.