GREENSBORO, N.C. – Facing the top competition it has faced all season, the Auburn swimming and diving program responded with a strong first day from both the men's and women's teams at the Wolfpack Invite on Thursday.
"My message was 'Go out, scrap, fight, get to the wall and know that when you've touched, you gave everything you had,'" Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "I thought we saw that tonight from this team."
On the women's side, the 13th-ranked Tigers are second after the first day with top all-time performances from sophomore Emily Hetzer and senior Julie Meynen.
Hetzer finished second in the 500 free with a lifetime-best time of 4:38.87. It's the fourth-fastest time in the event in Auburn history. Meynen also swam a lifetime best in the 50 free, finishing in 21.80 to earn first place. She, too, moved into fourth all-time in program history.
"Those are NCAA qualifying performances," Taylor said. "They kind of separated themselves a little bit. I thought Claire Fisch's 50 free (22.06) was really good. That was her best performance of the year also."
Fisch and Meynen, along with fellow senior Robyn Clevenger and freshman AJ Kutsch, combined to win the 200 free relay (1:28.09) in the first event of the finals session Thursday.
The Auburn men, ranked No. 23 nationally, jumped out to a quick start with a third-place finish in the 200 free relay. Later, in the 200 IM, senior Spencer Rowe swam a season-best 1:49.46 to place sixth in the A final while freshman Seth Maschmeier finished second in the B final (1:50.38) after dropping four seconds off his lifetime best.
The men closed out the first day with a fifth-place finish in the 400 medley relay and are currently sitting in third out of five teams – all ranked in the Top 25.
"I think we showed some great things (on both sides) today," Taylor said. "We got some big individual wins as well as a relay win. We firmly implanted ourselves in the middle of this meet and in the middle of the competition. But we still have a lot of events to go."
DIVING RECAP
After earning a personal-best score during the prelims, Auburn sophomore Conner Pruitt turned around and won the 3-meter competition in the finals with 398.50 points.
"Conner was rock solid," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "He did a nice job in the prelims and then stepped up in the finals for the win. I think every meet that we've been in, he's continuing to get personal bests, so that's real encouraging."
For the women, senior Alison Maillard scored 280.05 points to finish third in the 1-meter event.
"Alison was really solid in the prelims. In the finals, she was just a little bit off," Shaffer said. "It's again things that we've been working on that you have to correct every day in practice, so she has the confidence to step and make those same corrections in a meet situation."
WHAT'S NEXT
The Tigers will return to the pool Friday, beginning with prelims at 8:30 a.m. CT and then finals at 4:30 p.m. CT. The swimming events include the 400 IM, the 100 fly, the 200 free, the 100 breast and the 100 back. On the diving side, the women will take part in the 3-meter competition while the men will compete in the 1-meter.
SCORES (DAY 1)
Women
1. NC State: 442.5
2. Auburn: 381
3. Arizona State: 284.5
4. Wisconsin: 207.5
5. Duke: 184.5
Men
1. NC State: 443
2. Arizona State: 388
3. Auburn: 268
4. Duke: 224
5. Wisconsin: 217