AUBURN, Ala. – Fresh off a sweep over LSU, the Auburn swimming and diving programs both made a big jump in the CSCAA rankings this week. The women moved from No. 13 to No. 6, and the men climbed five spots to No. 20.
On Saturday, the Auburn women will look to back up their new top 10 ranking with a women's only meet at Arkansas, beginning at 11 a.m. CT.
"This presents a new challenge to our women," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "For some of our women, this will be their consecutive weekend competing, and for our program, that can be tough with the work that you're putting behind it during the week."
The women's side opened the season two weeks ago with a second-place finish at the SMU Classic, and then followed that with a 185-108 victory over LSU last weekend.
Through the first two meets, the Tigers have yet to lose in the 50 free or 100 free because of strong performances from seniors Claire Fisch and Julie Meynen as well as freshman Abby Webb, who won the 100 free against LSU. However, this Arkansas squad features Anna Hopkin, one of the premier sprinters in the country.
"We have great sprinters at Auburn, but at the same time, she's maybe a step ahead of us even at this point," Taylor said. "She's extremely elite. They have some other swimmers that can provide kind of that second punch, and they've got really strong diving.
"So I think it's going to present a really good challenge for our women. If we roll in and kind of sleepwalk through it, they can get some quick wins and we can find ourselves behind."
The two teams will compete in 14 swimming events and two diving events. The swimming events will be, in order: the 200 medley relay, 1,000 free, 200 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 200 butterfly, 50 free, 100 free, 200 back, 200 breast, 500 free, 100 butterfly, 200 IM and 400 free relay.
On the diving side, Auburn is bringing Alison Maillard, the reigning SEC Female Diver of the Week. The senior won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events against LSU and will look to do the same again Saturday against Arkansas.